Home of New Jersey's first baccalaureate nursing program and the first Catholic collegiate nursing program in the northeast, Seton Hall's College of Nursing is celebrating its Diamond Anniversary this year.
It's been 75 years since the College of Nursing first began in Newark in 1937. Since it first started, the college has educated more than 8,000 nurses, according to Phyllis Hansell, dean of the College of Nursing.
Even with the amount of growth, the college has kept its program up-to-date on what's going on in the professional world.
The college also offered the state its first nurse practitioner Master of Science in nursing in 1977 and its first Master of Science in nursing entry program with clinical nurse leadership in 2008.
As dean, Hansell said, she has been a part of the college's growth having helped lead it in program development, increasing external grant funds and starting various dynamic partnerships with the Meridian Health System, Georgian Court University, Montclair State University, The Atlantic Health System, Valley Hospital, Metropolitan University in Denmark and the University of the Philippines. Each partnership is connected with student learning experiences.
"The offerings of the College of Nursing have always been on the vanguard of the changing demands for the profession," Hansell said.
According to Hansell, the demand for nurses has never been higher for reasons including changes in population demographics.
"As individuals age over the age of 50, chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease become more common," Hansell said.
The college offers an accelerated Bachelor of Science in nursing for students who already have a college degree in another major.
According to the university's website, the accelerated program allows students who already have a baccalaureate degree in a non-nursing major to graduate with a degree in nursing in 14 months.
Hansell said the college accepts 30 accelerated students each year.
Madelyn Abdallaan can be reached at madelyn.abdalla@student.shu.edu.
