Bank of America Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis has given $2.5 million to Georgia State University's School of Nursing in an effort to help combat the state's critical nursing shortage, university President Carl V. Patton announced in August at a naming ceremony on campus.

The cash gift will fund faculty positions, teaching laboratories and student scholarships in the nursing school, which has been renamed the Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing in honor of Lewis' mother, a retired nurse.

"The shortage of nurses and the lack of training opportunities is a national issue, and one we need to address because nurses play such a beneficial role in our society," said Kenneth Lewis, who graduated from Georgia State's J. Mack Robinson College of Business in 1969.

Part of the $2.5 million gift will fund the Byrdine F. Lewis Endowment, which will provide money for faculty enrichment, programs, research and student scholarships. The gift also will help support Georgia State's proposed new $75 million science-teaching laboratory building.

The Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing offers seven degree and certification programs, including the state's first accelerated baccalaureate nursing program, as well as clinical experiences in metro Atlanta hospitals, clinics and community-based health care programs.