Alumna’s Family Establishes the Jenna Lynn Wallace Memorial Scholarship

The award, which supports advanced practice nursing students at Rutgers, 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. Criteria are being developed and the first scholarship is expected to be presented in the spring.

Jenna Lynn Wallace "was a force of compassion and determination - passionate in everything she pursued and unmistakably herself the moment she walked into a room," her father, Jerry Wallace, said.

Wallace built her expertise and career step by step. She earned her diploma in nursing from Mountainside Hospital, Montclair, in 2000 and her bachelor of science in nursing degree in 2011 from Stockton University, Galloway Township. In 2015 she earned her master of science in nursing from the Rutgers School of Nursing through the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program.

"She worked incredibly hard to become a nurse practitioner," said Jerry Wallace, her father. "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 added. "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, said Merisa Rosa, her sister.

"Watching our mother manage longstanding health challenges shaped her desire to help others," Rosa said.

Wallace also was influenced by a family history of nursing, including an aunt and a great-aunt who served in the profession, one of whom was a military nurse.

From left: Kaitlyn Sarcone,'25, pediatric primary and acute care nurse practitioner, and Nicole Billemeyer, '24 family nurse practitioner in emergency care, practice intubation.

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 National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

She worked as a nurse at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune City, N.J., where she died in 2018 at age 42 after an 11-month battle with cancer. Jenna would have turned 50 this year.

"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 said. "Be a warrior, as Jenna always was - living with heart, serving with humility and carrying hope into every room you enter."

Angela Starkweather, dean and professor at the School of Nursing, said the scholarship reflects Wallace's determination, her pride as a Rutgers nurse and the crucial role nurse practitioners play in health care. Donations to the scholarship fund can be made as designated gifts through the Rutgers Foundation, she added.

"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.