— When Debra Bascom walked into a University of Colorado Colorado Springs classroom six years ago, the then 47-year-old mother of five was petrified.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was older than the professors,\u201d Bascom, one of 842 UCCS graduates who will participate in commencement exercises May 20, said. \u201cI was scared \u2013 I hadn\u2019t stepped foot in a classroom in more than 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bascom put her fears aside and focused on her studies, earning a place on the dean\u2019s list for two years before putting her studies on hold to grieve for her son, Douglas, a Marine killed in the line of duty in Iraq, and focusing on helping two teenagers still living at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kept me going is thinking I could be 50 years old and be right where I am or be 50 years old and be a college graduate,\u201d Bascom said. \u201cI wanted the later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bascom received support from the Karen Possehl Women\u2019s Endowment, a private scholarship designed to give non-traditional women students the opportunity to earn a college degree, something Bascom never thought possible as a military spouse who opted to home school her children. Frequent moves and family demands meant little time for personal growth or thoughts of a career.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next for the 53-year-old graduate with a bachelor\u2019s degree and certification to teach in secondary schools?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to teach history at the high school level,\u201d she said. \u201cI like teenagers.\u201d<\/p>\n
An estimated 1,193 students graduated from UCCS for the spring 2011 semester. About 842 are expected to participate in the ceremony with 682 earning bachelor\u2019s degrees, 141 earning master\u2019s degrees and 19 earning doctoral degrees, including 14 Doctorate of Nursing Practice degrees awarded to students from the Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences. <\/p>\n
The Doctorate of Nursing Practice prepares nurses to provide high-quality primary health care, often for specific at-risk populations and in rural areas, and for teaching the next generation of professional nurses. Whether these graduates move into teaching or primary health care, both are vital to solving the shortage of nurses in Colorado and helping the U.S. reform its health care system, according to Nancy Smith, dean, Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences.<\/p>\n
UCCS has the fourth largest enrollment of graduate (master\u2019s and doctoral degree-seeking) students in Colorado.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak will provide the commencement address and noted the importance of almost 1,200 new graduates to the regional workforce.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs they move from seats in the classroom to positions as teachers, accountants, nurses, engineers, and many other positions in both the public and private sectors, these graduates represent the workforce, and the future, of southern Colorado,\u201d Shockley-Zalabak said.<\/p>\n
UCCS, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The University offers 36 bachelor\u2019s degrees, 19 master\u2019s, and five doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 9,000 students annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
— When Debra Bascom walked into a University of Colorado Colorado Springs classroom six years ago, the then 47-year-old mother of five was petrified. \u201cI was older than the professors,\u201d Bascom, one of 842 UCCS (Full Press Release)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pressreleases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}