SPRING 2008

Plans to pursue nursing program announced; Georgia Baptist foundation gives $200,000 grant

In early February, Shorter College administrators announced plans to submit a proposal to the Georgia Board of Nursing for approval to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. The proposal will be submitted to the state nursing board later this spring with a goal of beginning to offer the first nursing courses in August 2010.

Shorter’s announcement came just days after a Georgia Senate study committee heard a report that the state is facing a critical shortage of health-care professionals. “The Bachelor of Science in Nursing is a great fit for Shorter College because it serves the educational needs of prospective students and the health-care needs of our state,” said College President Dr. Harold E. Newman. “The nursing program will go hand in hand with our mission as a Christian college to serve and minister to the needs of others.”

The college’s plans for the program call for the inclusion of a medical missions experience in the curriculum, which would have Shorter students serving needy populations both domestically and abroad, Dr. Newman added. To help establish the BSN program, the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation has awarded Shorter College a $200,000 grant.

Dr. Newman described the gift as “a significant step in our quest to establish the new degree program” and expressed thanks to the foundation and its leadership for the gift.

Shorter currently offers all of the nursing core courses so students interested in enrolling in the BSN program could enroll as early as the fall of 2008 to begin the core sequence, according to Dr. John Head (’87), Shorter’s vice president for enrollment management.

Individuals interested in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at Shorter College may e-mail nursing.students@shorter.edu or contact Dr. Head at 706-233-7342. Potential nursing faculty members who are interested in learning more about the program may e-mail nursing.faculty@shorter.edu or contact the college’s provost, Dr. Craig Shull, at 706-233-7203.