Endicott Enters $20 Million Cummings Nursing School Partnership

BEVERLY, MA — A record $20 million partnership between Endicott College and Cummings Foundation will include renaming the school's nursing school the Cummings School of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Endicott President Dr. Steven DiSalvo revealed the renaming Thursday afternoon at a ceremony to announce the partnership and mark the groundbreaking of a new classroom building on campus.

It is the largest partnership in Endicott College history.

"We are thrilled about this new partnership with Cummings Foundation and very thankful for their continued generosity and the commitment to philanthropy demonstrated by Bill and Joyce Cummings," DiSalvo said. "Their support will ensure the continued development of our future nurses and health science professionals, which is critical, particularly during this current public health crisis."

The Endicott funding is accompanied by a large-scale conceptual orange "iron butterfly" sculpture installed on Endicott's campus outside of the Wylie Inn and Conference Center on Hale Street.

The sculpture is one of 22 erected at Cummings properties in Beverly and Greater Boston signifying the transformation of the monarch butterfly and representing the emergence from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Jim Trudeau, a long-time Beverly resident and chief design officer at Cummings Properties, drew the plans for the sculptures.

The Cummings funding will support the new state-of-the-art educational space that will be home to the college's Sport Science program — providing students with interactive lab space and traditional classrooms.

"As home to our Cummings Center and Dunham Ridge business and technology campuses, Beverly has long been an important community to the Cummings organization," said Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Foundation and Cummings Properties. "And Endicott is certainly one of Beverly’s finest gems."

"With the highest appreciation for the college’s innovative learning programs, Cummings Foundation is so delighted to partner with Endicott to help fulfill the vital need for nursing and health sciences professionals."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)