Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) received approval from the Indiana State Board of Nursing to pursue the launch of an undergraduate baccalaureate nursing program. SMWC will now seek approval from the Higher Learning Commission to allow the College to officially begin offering a four-year residential Bachelor of Science in nursing.
“We look to meld the needs of today’s students in a national growing and highly competitive industry. We are so pleased to be able to move to the next level,” said Janet Clark, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs. “The State Board of Nursing was very complementary of the proposed program curriculum and faculty.”
The State Board of Nursing completed a site visit in November to review curriculum, meet with faculty and tour the new nursing skills lab and renovated chemistry lab spaces. National trends to improve health promotion, access to care, patient safety, evidence-based practice and effective collaboration among the interprofessional team have served as the underpinnings for the curriculum construction of this proposed program.
“Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College prepares students to be leaders, and we believe this to be a great fit with our other educational offerings. Our program will encourage students to explore leadership and management theories and principles and their application to the nursing practice in the provision of healthcare,” said Marcia Miller, Ph.D., chair of the department of nursing at SMWC.
The Woods continues to build upon its reputation of offering distinctive health-related programs to prepare students for careers in high demand. SMWC launched a coeducational online RN to BSN degree completion program in January 2014 and a healthcare administration major was added in the Fall of 2013. The proposed nursing program mission and philosophy are aligned with the value-added education, a strong liberal arts foundation and the Catholic traditions and values of SMWC.
SMWC received a $1M grant from the Lily Endowment Inc. to initiate the nursing program, which was aided in part by the Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Grant. These funds allowed the College to hire a director of nursing, create a nursing skills lab, renovate chemistry labs and launch an online RN-BSN completion program.
The College anticipates a site visit from the Higher Learning Commission in early 2015 to complete the approval process. Once approval is received, SMWC will seek national program accreditation from the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) as a member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).
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