Hiram College Nursing Program
Questions and Answers
Q. Why is Hiram College, a liberal arts institution, creating a nursing program?
A. Hiram wants to educate a new generation of nurses who will be the critically thinking, caring leaders of their profession by embedding the program in the liberal arts. The College is well positioned to accomplish this, given its history of strong, successful science programs. In particular, graduates of Hiram's biomedical humanities program have for the past five years had a 100 percent placement rate into medical and veterinary schools. Additionally, the College'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.
Q. What degree will a graduate of the nursing program earn?
A. The Hiram College Board of Trustees has approved a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. The Ohio Board of Nursing also has given its conditional approval. The Ohio Board of Regents will have to consider the program and its science requirements.
Q. What will be different about Hiram's nursing program?
A. In addition to a receiving a solid foundation in the liberal arts, Hiram hopes to accept entering students directly into the nursing program. Director Gosnell will be making this decision. Many schools require students to wait until their second year to apply for admission to a nursing program to which there is no guarantee that a student will be accepted. Hiram nursing students will know from the outset that they've been accepted into the program.
Q. When can I start the program?
A. Hiram has received conditional approval of Ohio Board of Nursing and is seeking approval from the Ohio Board of Regents. We are on a schedule that will allow us to admit the first class of Hiram College BSN students in the fall of 2007. So you can apply now.
Q. Will the nursing program be offered through the Weekend College?
A. The initial program will be available only through the traditional college. Of course, “non-traditional” students, if their schedules permit, are welcome to apply to join the program through the traditional college. Once the College gets its nursing program firmly established, it will consider extending the program to the Weekend College.
Q. Can you tell me more about your timeline for program approval?
A. The founding chairperson of the nursing program, Davina Gosnell, was hired in August. She formed a Hiram College Nursing Program Advisory Council, which with the faculty, has developed the BSN curriculum, including designing the on-campus basic skills nursing lab and classroom, and establishing relationships with hospitals and other care settings for clinical experience. The Ohio Board of Nursing approved the program in March, and the Ohio Board of Regents soon will consider approving the program.
Q. Can you tell me more about Davina Gosnell, the program founding chairperson?
A. Davina Gosnell is the retired dean of the Kent State University College of Nursing. She is well known and respected throughout Northeast Ohio. Among her many awards is the Ohio Nurses Association Excellence in Nursing Education Administration Award and Dorothy Cornelius Leadership Congress. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and an experienced teacher of nursing students and a talented researcher who developed the Gosnell Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment Tool.
Q. Will she be able to help Hiram establish the necessary clinical relationships for training students?
A. Not only will Davina Gosnell's previous experience and relationships be an asset in establishing the Hiram BSN program, but the College also has, through its Center for Literature and Medicine and Biomedical Humanities, a history of relationships with nationally respected institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals.
Q. How much will it cost to attend Hiram College to study nursing?
A. The nursing program will be covered by the Hiram College Tuition Guarantee. Established in 2004 to help students and their parents predict college costs, the Tuition Guarantee assures traditional students that for four years they will pay the same tuition and fees they did on day one. Students entering the College in the fall of 2006 had the additional benefit of tuition being frozen at the 2005 level.
Q. What will it be like to study nursing at Hiram?
A. Hiram College, located in picturesque Hiram Village, is a close-knit, friendly, caring community. In the 2006 edition of his "Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges," Loren Pope quotes a Hiram faculty member as saying: "We teach students, rather than subjects. That's why we create a comfortable environment." Pope also notes that "Every faculty member I talked to took an obvious pleasure in teaching and being friends with the students." This is the environment into which nursing students will be welcomed while being only 45 minutes from three metropolitan areas - Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown - and clinical opportunities offered there.
Q. I understand there will be a tremendous demand for nurses in the future.
A. The shortage of nurses is expected to grow to 2.8 million by 2020. Despite the fact that in 2005 admission to baccalaureate nursing programs grew by 20 percent nationally, Ohio nursing programs were so crowded that students were turned away. "There is a great demand for BSNs grounded in the liberal arts, with its emphasis on critical thinking ability and development of leadership skills," Hiram College President Thomas V. Chema said.
Q. What kind of leaders do you expect Hiram College nursing graduates to be?
A. Our nurses will attend college alongside future physicians and biotechnology researchers. We expect to prepare them to become involved in the life-and-death decisions that occur in the medical professions. We will give them a strong foundation in ethics through our unique ethics program that is embedded in our entire curriculum. We expect our nursing program to produce a different, well prepared nurse who is ready to interact successfully on the highest levels of the medical profession.
Q. How do I find out more about the Hiram College nursing program?
A. Call the Office of Admission at 1.800.362.5280 or e-mail admission@hiram.edu.