Hiram College receives final approval for new nursing program
The Ohio Board of Regents has joined the Ohio Board of Nursing in approving Hiram College's new nursing program.
The College welcomed its first nursing class of 40 students in August.
The launch of a nursing program was approved by Hiram's Board of Trustees in May 2006 after months of discussion by faculty and trustees about how a nursing program would fit into a national liberal arts institution.
"I think the fit is perfect," Hiram College President Thomas V. Chema said. "There is a great demand for BSNs grounded in the liberal arts, with its emphasis on critical thinking ability and development of leadership skills."
Davina J. Gosnell, director of the nursing program, led the effort to gain the approval of the Ohio Board of Nursing.
"Everything came together in a year," Gosnell said. "When people at Hiram have a great idea, they make it happen.
"Hiram enticed me out of retirement with its vision of a nursing program that draws on the liberal arts tradition - with a strong foundation in the sciences, biomedical humanities, and even study abroad experiences - and incorporates a distinctive nursing curriculum. This is unique in nursing, and Hiram has put all the puzzle pieces in place."
Gosnell, whose degrees include a doctorate in adult education, curriculum and evaluation from Ohio State University and bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing, will guide Hiram through the process of gaining approvals for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from the Ohio Board of Nursing and in meeting the science requirements of the Ohio Board of Regents.
Gosnell is dean emerita of the College of Nursing at Kent State University, having served for 15 years. She joined the Kent State faculty in 1978 to help initiate the university's master's in nursing program. Since her retirement in August 2004, Gosnell has been part-time coordinator of Kent's masters of public health program. She is currently first vice president of the Ohio Nurses Association and is actively involved in several professional and community organizations.
The nursing program will take advantage of the college's unique biomedical humanities program whose graduates during the past six years have had a near 100 percent placement into medical and veterinary schools, its traditionally strong science curriculum, core courses in the liberal arts and the college's intimate learning environment in a village within 45 minutes of the medical centers of Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown.
"We'll make use," Gosnell said, "of the many fine clinical facilities of the region and in locations where nursing is practiced in the community, including long-term care facilities and ambulatory, inpatient and outpatient settings."
Gosnell served 14 years on the Ohio Public Health Council, including four years as chair. Her many awards, fellowships and honors include the Ohio Nurses Association Excellence in Nursing Education Administration Award and Dorothy Cornelius Leadership Congress, and she is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Her research led to the development of the Gosnell Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment Tool.
She has broad international health care experience, including serving as a World Health Organization Consultant in Papua, New Guinea and Europe and as visiting professor of nursing at the University of Zambia. Hiram's unique 12-week, 3-week academic calendar will lend itself to nursing students gaining international health care experience during the 3-week period by participating in study abroad with members of the Hiram faculty.
With a Hiram College Advisory Council and the Hiram faculty, the new director developed the BSN curriculum.
"We found a way to create a strong nursing curriculum while incorporating not only the College's core curriculum but also a biomedical humanities minor," Gosnell said. "Given Hiram's study abroad tradition and the relevance of global health, our unique 12-week, 3-week Hiram Plan has allowed us to incorporate the topic of Global Health and Nursing Issues."
Hiram's nursing program will be different in other ways.
"Inspired by Associate Professor of Biology Brad Goodner's genomics research, nursing will also have a genetics course - a fairly recent occurrence in the field," Gosnell said. "It will be a lab course, which is not typical. This should enrich our students' experience."
Despite a current nurse faculty shortage, Gosnell is optimistic that others will be eager to join her at Hiram. "Nursing faculty will find Hiram College an attractive place to work," she said. "The opportunity to build a new program is not one that a person has every day."
For answers to your questions about Hiram College nursing, please go to: http://www.hiram.edu/noteworthy/nursing/qa.html