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Published: August 12, 2008 07:54 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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