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The first of the Town Hall Meetings will take place in Tazewell and Grundy, Virginia. Prospective students are encouraged to attend the Tazewell informational meeting on Tuesday, May 26 at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Building or the Grundy Town Hall gathering on Tuesday, June 16 at 7 p.m. at the Booth Center (room 326).
“The purpose of our Town Hall Meetings is to share information on the planned implementation of our new master’s degree in nursing,” said Dr. Carolyn Lewis, former dean of the BC School of Nursing. “The future of healthcare is undergoing dramatic change and, thus, Bluefield College’s intended goal is to educate baccalaureate registered nurses for master’s preparation to meet the healthcare professional demand at a regional and state level.”
The Town Hall gatherings, Dr. Lewis added, are designed to “engage, partner, and collaborate” the community in an effort to “enhance the healthcare workforce.”
Just two short years ago in what was considered the most historic academic achievement at BC since becoming a four-year college in 1975, the Board approved the school’s first-ever master’s degree, an online master’s in education (MAEd). Realizing the benefits and success of that program, the Board unanimously endorsed during its spring 2015 meetings the launch of an online master of science degree in nursing (MSN).
“The MSN is a ‘market ready’ master’s degree program,” said Dr. Thomas Brewster, vice chair of the Board and superintendent of Pulaski County Schools. “Bluefield College is paving the way toward creating a highly qualified workforce for our region to create and fill high paying jobs needed to build a robust economy for the 21st Century.”
The new online master’s degree in nursing, which comes just five years after the Board approved a bachelor’s degree program in nursing (RN-to-BSN), will begin in January of 2016, pending official approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), and will include concentrations in family nurse practitioner and leadership/education. Featuring both traditional and non-traditional delivery methods, the MSN will also focus on preparing students for work in rural health care environments.
For more information about the new master’s degree in nursing at Bluefield College or the informational meetings about the program, contact Dr. Lewis by phone at 276-326-4209 or by e-mail at [email protected].