Published: August 12, 2008 07:55 am         

$140K to help nursing students at Delhi

By Mark Boshnack
Staff Writer

A recent $140,000 award from the State University of New York will allow the State University College of Technology at Delhi to better meet the needs of nursing students who want to improve their skills.

The RN to BSN program was launched in January to provide an opportunity for registered nurses who want to obtain a bachelor of science in nursing, said Mary Pat Lewis, chairwoman of the SUNY Delhi’s nursing and allied health department. The degree is necessary for nurses who want to move into administration, teach or fulfill other responsibilities, she said. The program, which has an enrollment of 69, was identified as “high need” by SUNY in its initial funding of it.

The funds will allow the hiring of two full-time faculty members to add to the staff of one full-time professor and six additional adjunct instructors. This should allow the program to expand to 170, she said.

Professor Deborah Adelman works out of her home in Springfield, Ill., an example of how staff and students are located around the country and internationally, Lewis said.

There is a lot of interest from nontraditional students _ those who may have a job or family, Adelman said.

She has taught in traditional classrooms since 1980 and online since 1994.

“The online students are of a very high caliber,” she said. “They are energetic and looking to the future,” for their profession and individually, she said.

“If we don’t have enough nursing educators, we cannot educate the future,” Adelman said.

The idea for the online program began in 2005 when SUNY Delhi surveyed RNs who might be interested in such a class. Ninety percent of those interested said they would prefer not to travel for a variety of reasons, Lewis said.

The program was designed to meet the flexibility of those students, she said. Students can enter anytime during a sevenweek period and advance at their own pace. The course can be completed in a year or more depending on the time a student has to devote to studies. From there, students can participate in clinical training at an agency in their local area.

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