Dolores and Forest Grunigen Scholarship Endowment

Dean Linda Sarna with Ms. Dolores Grunigen

Dolores Grunigen and her late husband Dr. Forest Grunigen spent much of their time together in the 1960s and 70s advocating in Sacramento to establish regulations and guidelines for allied health care providers such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants and emergency medical technicians. It was during this time that the Grunigens met Lulu Wolf Hassenplug, the newly retired dean of UCLA’s School of Nursing. “My husband and I were always very supportive of the role of nursing in health care. We learned a lot from Lulu, and were always amazed at how much she managed to accomplish.” 

The Grunigens and Hassenplug worked together on the nurse practitioner bill to promote the expanded role for NPs. Through their advocacy work and mutual respect and belief in allied health care in every aspect, nursing in particular, they forged a close bond. Dolores says that they shared much in common, and noted Hassenplug’s enthusiasm about the paramount importance of advanced nursing education through the graduate level. Dolores and Forest shared this passion for higher education, and upon Lulu’s death in 1995, they helped establish the Lulu Wolf Hassenplug Chair in Nursing at UCLA to honor their dear friend. After her husband’s death in 1999, Dolores endowed the Dolores and Forest Grunigen Scholarship to support students seeking advanced nursing degrees at UCLA.   

Says Dolores, “Our years of struggle with the legislative body has encouraged me to continue to promote nursing through active committee participation.”