Rutgers School of Nursing Magazine - Summer 2026

D O N O R I MPA CT FromMusic to Nursing: An Alumnus Gives Back S ean Barnawell , MSN, CRNA, didn’t set out to become a nurse anesthesiologist—or to create a nursing scholarship. He had trained for a career in music and planned to make a living playing guitar and dou- ble bass. Then he realized it wasn’t going to pay the bills. So, he pivoted. He had worked as an orderly in a nursing home, gaining firsthand insight into nursing’s role in patient care. “I saw the kind of work nurses do at the nursing home and thought it might be a good way for me to find my way into the middle class by get- ting a skilled profession,” he says. He earned his bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1995 from Rush University in Chicago. There, he saw a simulation of endotracheal intubation and knew he wanted to become a nurse anesthesiologist. “The whole thing looked exciting and important. It’s a form of res- cue, really,” he says. “That got me interested in the whole science of anesthesia. The science was engag- ing for me—pharmacology, how the gas behaved physically, the gas and airflow, and oxygen.” At age 40, after a decade as a reg- istered nurse, he applied to Rutgers University’s nurse anesthesia pro- gram. “I was accepted to the highly competitive program as a nontradi- tional student, and Rutgers gave me a chance to prove myself,” he says. Graduating with his master’s degree in 2008, he embarked on a rewarding career as a certified regis- tered nurse anesthesiologist (CRNA). Since then, the nurse anesthesia pro- gram, the only one in the state, has transitioned to a doctoral program. In gratitude for his success and the opportunities he’s received, Bar- nawell has added Rutgers School of Nursing to his will to create a schol- arship for nursing students. “The year I turned 60, I began to think about what legacy I’d like to leave behind,” says Barnawell. “That gave me the idea of a planned gift of one of my retirement accounts.” The planned gift will fund a schol- arship named after Barnawell and his wife, Lorraine Ford, whom he met at Indiana University Bloomington. She was a voice major, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in music per- formance. The college sweethearts married in 1992. As a CRNA, Barnawell starts his day before sunrise, preparing for cases ranging from colonoscopies to surgeries for trauma, weight loss, and orthopedics. “Making a difference for patients by treating their pain, easing their anxiety, and making their surgery possible—it feels like a privilege to be part of this collective effort to help people with surgery and anes- thesia,” he says. To learn about supporting nursing scholarships, student emergency funds, and other giving priorities at Rutgers School of Nursing, please visit nursing.rutgers.edu/giving RN • M A K E A G I F T • 16