MSU – BOZEMAN COLLEGE OF NURSING
Special Program Priorities
Case Statement
Statement for College of Nursing Priority One: Student scholarships for distance education costs.
Goal: $3.3 million
Goal:
Meeting the challenges of delivering high-quality nursing education
in a rural state, the College of Nursing pioneered distance delivery by
developing a statewide nursing program with upper-division
(junior/senior-level) campuses located in Montana's major health care
cities. Students complete their upper division course work at one of the
Established campuses located across the state in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls,
Kalispell, or Missoula. These communities have the range of health care facilities that
provide the degree of complexity, size, and diversity of patient population
needed for baccalaureate and graduate nursing education. In addition, place bound students can complete lower division courses at any campus. The College of Nursing serves as a national model for delivering distance educational programs using both
teleconference bridge and interactive video. Students are able to access
courses utilizing on-line enhancements as well as traditional courses. Another plan to increase enrollment and meet the demands of the nursing profession is by adding upper division course work, or approximately 16 students each year, to the Bozeman campus. Beginning in fall 2003, the College of Nursing will offer two new graduate options, and in the fall of 2004, the College of Nursing plans to admit upper division students to the Bozeman campus. Once the College of Nursing does this, it anticipates the addition of approximately 48 students. Scholarships for these students are greatly needed in order to offset the costs for distance delivery fees.
Background:
Montana State University - Bozeman College of Nursing has been serving
Montanans with high quality baccalaureate education since 1937 and graduate
education since 1957. MSU is the oldest state institution offering nursing
education in Montana. The College offers the only state-assisted generic
baccalaureate program as well as the only Master of Nursing (MN) program in
the state. Both programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
Faculty members are unmatched in Montana in their areas of research,
practice, scholarship, service, and outreach. They serve on national
projects in nursing education, regulation, accreditation, teaching, public
health, and health care reform. Each member of the College of Nursing's
faculty comes from both an academic and a practice background, giving
students unique perspectives from the real world. Nursing faculty are
nationally recognized for their expertise in understanding rural cultural
values and health beliefs. Professors are committed to being accessible to
students and also enjoy serving as advisors during course selection and
pre-registration. The College of Nursing and Oregon Health and Science
University are working together to offer the OHSU PhD program in Nursing to
regional campus sites in Oregon and Montana through distance-delivery
technologies. This enables current master's prepared MSU faculty and other
Montana nurses to pursue a degree in one of the top five doctoral programs
in the country while maintaining their Montana residencies and full-time
employment.
The annual enrollment of students in the nursing major is well over 550, making
the College of Nursing one of the largest in the nation. Several MSU nursing students have won the coveted national Spirit of Nursing award, and students have served as the president and members of the Board of Directors of the 40,000 member National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA). Nearly 15% of the students are men. Most of the
students are from Montana and most graduates remain in Montana after graduation. MSU graduates taking the NCLEX-RN, nursing's national licensing exam, historically exceed the national pass rate on their first attempt. The MSU - Bozeman College of Nursing has been federally designated as one of a select number of US Army ROTC Centers of Excellence for nursing education or PNE (Partners in Nursing Education).
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