Jarr Family’s Gift to Fund White Coats, Stethoscopes for Incoming Nursing Students

Klaus and Marla Jarr

Hearing about the University of Northern Iowa’s plan to create a new standalone nursing program, Marla ’69 and Klaus Jarr thought of the care providers who have been at their family’s side through Klaus’s health journey.

“We have a soft spot in our hearts for nurses,” said Klaus and Marla Koester Jarr.

While attending an Our Tomorrow campaign event in Denver, the Jarrs learned UNI will welcome its inaugural class of students enrolled in the bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program later this fall. Through the BSN program, UNI is aiming to address the critical shortage of nurses in Iowa and throughout the nation. The innovative program will include hundreds of hours of hands-on experience in both simulated and real-world clinical settings across a wide variety of care disciplines.

After the Denver event, the Jarrs connected with the program leaders to learn about how they could make an impact. Working with the UNI Foundation, the couple created the Jarr Nursing Fund for Excellence, which will provide resources to purchase white coats and stethoscopes for the first class of nursing students and will waive the standard lab fee for the students. The remainder of the fund will be used to support nursing student scholarships.

“We thought this would be a great way to make it easier for the students, and we really liked the idea of spreading the money around the whole class,” Klaus said of their gift.

The Jarrs’ latest donation adds to their previous UNI giving, which includes the Jarr Family Endowed Education Scholarship. The scholarship honors the couple’s respective backgrounds–Marla in teaching and Klaus in engineering–as well as their daughters, who work in education.

The Jarr scholarship has made dreams come true for education majors in science, math and industrial technology, among other disciplines. With their contributions, the Jarrs are creating an incredible ripple of impact by investing in tomorrow’s nurses who will go on to care for patients across the state of Iowa and beyond.

“It’s a gift to the future,” said Marla. “It’s fun being able to watch your donations go to work and make a difference for others. Education is truly powerful.”