By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees took another large step in building out the university’s portfolio in health care related programs when it approved a new Bachelor of Science in Nursing program Friday.
(The trustees conducted their December meetings over Zoom.)
At Thursday’s Academic Affairs Committee meeting, Provost Joe Whitehead said that the program will allow for the first time prospective nurses to begin and complete their training at BGSU. Creating the major fits with the university’s goal to add high demand programs, Whitehead said.
The consortium with the University of Toledo, in which nursing students started at BGSU and then, if accepted, did their clinical training in Toledo, is ending. Those students now in the program will be able to complete it. The university also has a dual degree program with Mercy College. It also offers an online RN to BSN program.
Trustee Marilyn Eisele, who chairs the academic affairs committee, noted how quickly this program came together.
The process started in mid-2018. The School of Nursing was approved in May. Space in the annex of the former College of Business is being converted for use as clinical labs.
“This is much needed. I want to thank you for putting more nurses into the pipeline,” said George Miller, a national trustee and president and CEO of Loretto Hospital in Chicago. “What COVID has taught us is the invaluable role nurses and other health professionals play especially in a pandemic. … Many are burned out.”
He expressed frustration that “we still take care of people who don’t believe in wearing masks, practicing social distancing and washing their hands. Especially in this country it’s an easy thing to do.”
During the full board meeting in th afternoon, he reiterated his frustration. If people had taken those simple steps it would have saved 100,000 lives.
The first cohort will be enrolled next fall, and the university expects to graduate about 80 nurses annually.
Also, in the pipeline is a new doctorate in physical therapy and a reworked Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration.
Both programs received approval from Faculty Senate last week, not in time to be considered by the trustees.
In other academic affairs action, the trustees approved the name change for Bachelor of Science in Apparel Merchandising and Product Development to Bachelor of Science in Fashion Merchandising and Product Development.
Whitehead explained that the new name better reflects the content of the program. Fashion is a more inclusive term.
It is what’s use by other similar programs. When prospective students search for program they use the term “fashion.”
This does not change the curriculum of the program which has approximately 100 students.
