COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. Highly motivated students who desire a career in nursing can complete a bachelor’s degree in as short as 16 months as part of a new degree program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
In an effort to alleviate the state and nation’s severe nursing shortage, the university’s Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences will begin an intensive program designed to prepare students for careers in nursing. The program will begin this summer and is designed for individuals who currently possess a bachelor’s degree and who are motivated to change careers.
“We are committed to helping the state resolve the shortage of nurses,” Carole Schoffstall, dean, Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences, said. “This is a program that allows people who are motivated and focused to complete the same courses as students in our four-year nursing program, the only difference being a compressed time frame.”
Students will be required to complete 67 credit hours in nursing coursework during sixteen months of continuous study. Additional coursework may be required, depending on the students’ previous field of study.
Schoffstall hopes to begin the new program with 24 students this summer, adding students as funding allows.
A $200,000 grant from Denver-based Johnson Foundation allowed the new program to begin. Three new faculty members were hired.
“We are deeply grateful to the Johnson Foundation for its support of the Beth-El College of Nursing and this initiative,” Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak said. “They have recognized a need and are empowering us to take steps to solve a critical problem.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, 1 million new nurses will be required by 2010 as large numbers of currently employed nurses retire and demand for healthcare increases. The Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences has worked to create innovative solutions, including scholarship and work opportunities with Memorial Hospital and Penrose St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs. Last year, over 300 qualified applicants applied to the college. There were only 100 openings for undergraduate nursing students.
The Helen K. and Arthur E. Johnson Foundation is a non-profit, private foundation that was incorporated in the State of Colorado in 1948. The Foundation directs its philanthropic resources primarily to tax-exempt Colorado organizations that: relieve suffering, meet basic human needs, promote self-sufficiency and enrich the quality of life.
CU-Colorado Springs, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in northeast Colorado Springs, is the fastest growing university in Colorado and one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The university offers 25 bachelor’s degrees, 17 master’s and two doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls more than 7,600 students annually.