May 12, 2009

Nursing Program to Start in Fall;
Students Will Earn BSN Degree

COLUMBIA, Ky. – Lindsey Wilson College will begin a bachelor’s degree in nursing this fall.

The college has been approved by the Kentucky Board of Nursing to offer a bachelor of science degree in nursing. It will be the 21st undergraduate program offered at the college.

The program was started in response to “a critical shortage of nurses in our region,” said Lindsey Wilson President William T. Luckey Jr.

“Since its founding in 1903, Lindsey Wilson has a history of meeting the needs of Southcentral Kentucky,” Luckey said. “A nursing program will allow citizens of Southcentral Kentucky who want to earn a four-year nursing degree to remain in this region while serving in one of society’s most important professions.”

Students who wish to be nursing majors will enroll their freshman year as pre-nursing majors and be part of a special learning community in which they work closely with their professors and academic advisers. Students who meet the program’s rigorous academic criteria will be admitted to the nursing program at the end of their freshmen year. During their final three years at the college, nursing majors will take mix of classes at Lindsey Wilson and also several practicums at regional health-care centers and hospitals.

“This will not be an easy major,” Luckey said. “It will require a great deal of commitment from the student. But the students who graduate from this program will be well-rounded individuals who will be prepared to make a significant contribution in the nursing profession.”

Several factors contributed to Lindsey Wilson’s decision to add a four-year nursing program, Luckey said.

“In the Jim and Helen Lee Fugitte Science Center, we already have one of the premier science buildings among Kentucky’s private colleges and universities,” Luckey said. “Our biology major also has an incredible track record in terms of getting students into professional schools such as pharmacy, dentistry, medicine and allied health.

“Students have also consistently expressed an interest in a nursing major. So we know the demand is there among our students as well as among prospective students.”

By starting a baccalaureate program in nursing, Lindsey Wilson will also help meet a critical need in Kentucky for more nurses with four-year degrees, Luckey said.

Of the 33 nursing programs in Kentucky and Tennessee, only 10 offer a bachelor of science degree in nursing. None of the nursing programs in Southcentral Kentucky offer a four-year nursing degree.

“The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has long been a national voice for baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs,” Luckey said.

Nursing is among the fastest-growing occupations in Kentucky, according to the Workforce Kentucky Web site.

“Given the poor public health status of Kentucky, this may well be an underestimate of the need for nurses,” Luckey said

For more information ...
For more information about the nursing program, contact the LWC Office of Admissions at admissions@lindsey.edu, (270) 384-8100 or (800) 264-0138.

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