Alumna’s family establishes memorial scholarship for future nurse practitioners
The Jenna Lynn Wallace Memorial Fund for Rutgers advanced practice nursing students reflects a life dedicated to caring for others.
Jenna Lynn Wallace built her life around caring for patients, advancing her professional knowledge and skills to become a nurse practitioner. In her memory, her family has established an endowed scholarship fund at the Rutgers School of Nursing.
Named the Jenna Lynn Wallace Memorial Scholarship, the fund will support students in the school’s nurse practitioner programs. The first scholarship is expected to be presented this spring.
Wallace earned her master of science in nursing from Rutgers School of Nursing through the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. She built her expertise and career step by step, earning her diploma in nursing from Mountainside Hospital in 2000, her bachelor of science in nursing from Stockton State University in 2011, and her Rutgers degree in 2015.
“She worked incredibly hard to become a nurse practitioner,” says her father, Jerry Wallace. “Jenna was a force of compassion and determination—passionate in everything she pursued and unmistakably herself the moment she walked into a room.”
Her Rutgers spirit ran deep, he says. “She wore her Rutgers scarlet—sweatshirts, hats, socks—with deep pride, fully aware of the grit and perseverance behind every step of her journey.”
Nursing was part of Wallace’s identity long before she entered a classroom, says her sister, Merisa Rosa. “Watching our mother manage longstanding health challenges shaped her desire to help others.” Wallace was also influenced by a strong family tradition of nursing, including an aunt and a great-aunt who served in the profession, one of whom was a military nurse.
As the eldest sibling, Wallace often stepped into a nurturing role for her younger sister and twin brothers. She carried that same sense of responsibility into her community, serving as a team captain for the MS Society.
She worked as a nurse at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where she died in 2018 at age 42 after an 11-month battle with cancer. She would have turned 50 this February.
“To future nurse practitioner students, may Jenna’s story remind you to stand firm in your resilience, to see the good in others even on the hardest days, and to step forward to help without waiting to be asked,” Jerry Wallace says. “Be a warrior, as Jenna always was—living with heart, serving with humility, and carrying hope into every room you enter.”
Angela Starkweather (PhD, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN), dean and professor at Rutgers School of Nursing, says the scholarship reflects Wallace’s determination, her pride as a Rutgers Nurse, and the important role nurse practitioners play in health care.
“We are deeply grateful to the Wallace family for creating a lasting tribute that will support our students and the communities they will serve,” Starkweather said.
