From Music to Nursing: An Alumnus Gives Back
Summer 2026
Sean 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 double 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 getting 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 rescue, really,” he says. “That got me interested in the whole science of anesthesia. The science was engaging for me—pharmacology, how the gas behaved physically, the gas and airflow, and oxygen.”
At age 40, after a decade as a registered nurse, he applied to Rutgers University’s nurse anesthesia program. “I was accepted to the highly competitive program as a nontraditional 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 registered nurse anesthesiologist (CRNA). Since then, the nurse anesthesia program, the only one in the state, has transitioned to a doctoral program.
In gratitude for his success and the opportunities he’s received, Barnawell has added Rutgers School of Nursing to his will to create a scholarship 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 scholarship 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 performance. 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 anesthesia,” 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.