Press Release
Northeast Community College is one step closer to creating a new nursing division in Norfolk.
At the college’s board of governor’s meeting Thursday, a letter of intent to establish a Northeast Division of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Nursing as approved.
“This is a blueprint, a road map, on how we can make this dream a reality,” said Bob Bartee, the medical center’s vice chancellor for external affairs.
The possibility of UNMC serving as the home of a new nursing division began with a letter from state Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk to J.B. Milliken, president of the University of Nebraska in April 2006.
In it, Flood requested the university explore the possibility of creating a new nursing division in Northeast Nebraska, citing the growing demand for acute care in the region and the need to increase the number of bachelor’s and master’s degree registered nurses.
“We did the feasibility study,” Bartee said. “One year ago today, we’re in another step of that process. We took the recommendations and put them into a letter of intent.”
The board of regents from the University of Nebraska was to take action on the letter of intent on its meeting yet Friday, Bartee said.
Upon approval, then fundraising efforts can officially begin. The building needed to house the nursing division is estimated to cost more than $10 million.
If that proves successful, a two-year planning phase for the new nursing division would begin. It would involve hiring faculty members and making use of temporary office space, likely in the Lifelong Learning Center.
The new division would be located in a new building on the Northeast Community College campus and would offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing. The building also would house Northeast’s two-year nursing program.
The second phase, which also will span two years, would include the admitting of the first class of nursing students, hiring of additional faculty members and the beginning of the actual operation of the nursing division.
Once operational, the nursing division would admit classes of 48 students each year to its bachelor of science in nursing degree program, and it also could admit 10 to 20 master’s degree students. Faculty positions, including an assistant dean, would total about 15.
The partnership also would involve close working relationships with Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk and area hospitals. The nursing division would seek to serve a 24-county area in Northeast and North Central Nebraska.
“We are looking forward to really making this an exciting opportunity for the students and the residents in this area of the state,” Bartee said.
- Story Courtesy of the Norfolk Daily News
