Westwood : Black Health Scholarships

The UCLA School of Public Health has established its first scholarship program for black students and named it after an alumna who has become a nationally recognized leader in the public health care field.

The Betty Smith Williams Scholarship Fund was set up by the school’s Health Careers Opportunity Program, which will oversee the scholarship process with the help of a committee of black alumni from the UCLA schools of public health and nursing.

Seventy-five percent of the funds raised will go toward scholarships, with the rest set aside for short-term emergency loans to students, UCLA officials said.

The woman for whom the program is named is a professor in the Department of Nursing at Cal State Long Beach and has been a member of the board of directors of Blue Cross of California since 1977. She also is a founding member of the National Black Nurses Assn. and co-founder of the Council of Black Nurses, Los Angeles, UCLA officials say.

She earned a master of science degree in public health and mental health nursing from UCLA in 1967. She received her doctorate in public health from the school in 1978, specializing in behavioral sciences and health administration, according to UCLA officials.

The scholarship program comes at a time when a decline in federal financial aid for graduate students has made it harder than ever for them to stay in school, said Kathleen A. Torres, director of the Health Careers Opportunity Program.

Contributions to the fund should be made payable to the UC Regents and sent to the Health Careers Opportunity Program, UCLA School of Public Health, 41-240 CHS, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024-1772.