MILWAUKEE — During National Nursing Week, May 6-12 this year, Michael Lovell, president of Marquette University, announced that an anonymous alumni couple donated $1 million to the university’s nursing program.

The donation, announced May 9, will go toward efforts to renovate and build an addition for the Jesuit-run school’s College of Nursing.

The couple emphasized the importance of “establishing a home for Marquette nurses that creates a sense of belonging and cultivates wellness opportunities across the college for nurses who give tirelessly of themselves.”

They said they viewed the donation as a way to “pay it forward for future generations of Marquette nurses.”

In early May, Lowell shared the university’s plans to build a new home for Marquette nurses in the heart of campus. School officials hope to add an additional 200 undergraduate nurses to the university’s nursing program over the next four years.

Jill Guttormson, a nurse who is the acting dean of the school’s nursing program, said it was “especially significant to announce this gift to launch our National Nurses Week celebration.”

“This gift is a wonderful way to honor both our current students and our Marquette nurses across the world who live out our Jesuit tenet of cura personalis — caring for the whole person.”

Tim McMahon, vice president for university advancement at Marquette, noted that the couple that made the donation has given two other gifts to the school’s fundraising campaign that established scholarships for students in financial need.

“This gift to support the dynamic new home for our College of Nursing will impact generations of Marquette nurses,” McMahon said. “We are humbled by the generosity of these remarkable campaign leaders.”