Dorothy Marshall Cummings

Established in 2008 by Sue Collier, this scholarship was created to provide support for full-time students enrolled in ECU’s Honors College as well as the College of Nursing. The student must be a full-time nursing major who has interest in maternal/child health. The student must have good academics, need financial assistance, and maintain eligibility criteria.

Dorothy “Dot” Marshall Cummings guided hundreds of women through childbirth during her career which spanned 40 years in Rocky Mount where she lived out her passion to help women during one of life’s most transformative events. A mother of six, she was known among colleagues for her eagerness to teach new moms how to care for their babies and for her commitment to mentoring young nurses.

“She adored children,” said her daughter, Sue Collier (BSN’81, MSN ’91) who explained that even as her mother approached the end of her life at 84, her mom drew others to her with the same engaging personality that so many of her patients loved. Not only did Dot inspire her daughter to become a nurse, but many others as well.

Even as she lived with Alzheimer’s Disease in Greenville’s Golden Living Center, she endeared herself to staff and other residents with her concern for the well-being of others. Tracey Taft, an aide who cared for Dot, was so inspired by Dot’s devotion to help others, even when all Dot could do was to hold their hand, that Taft went back to school and became an RN. “I knew she was a nurse, and I wanted to give my life to helping take care of people, even if it wasn’t her,” she said.

Sue, active in nurse leadership roles throughout her career, created this scholarship in loving memory of her mother who was her guiding light. This scholarship was a way of building the future of the profession that has been so important to both Collier and her mother. “A scholarship like this can be the difference between someone not finishing the program (or not going to school) and becoming a future nurse…I think the greatest way to remember someone is to help someone else,” Sue said.