College of Nursing

Fall break has come and gone. As you can see from the picture, the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building is moving along at a brisk pace. We are still anticipating completion in the summer with classes starting there in August. We are planning for a significant increase in enrollment over time there as we increase our traditional BSN cohort size from 40 to 64 students admitted each Fall and Spring. Hard hat tours are being scheduled and we are still in the final stretch of raising those last few dollars. The possibilities in this new building are only limited by the faculty and staff’s imagination. The work to implement the Interprofessional Center of Excellence is moving forward and the plans for that center are incredible. Not only will the College of Nursing students benefit, but Dr Meagan Oslund, the expert for interprofessional opportunities has an incredible list of programming already. 

All of our students are in the clinical setting. Our senior DNP Nurse Anesthesia students are finishing their time in the operating room and before they know it they will be graduated and working along side those who have been teaching them for almost three years. Other exciting academic news comes as Dr. Kristi Wick and Dr. Meagan Oslund are published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their article, "Bringing Age-Friendly Care to Rural Communities: The MobileMOC Interprofessional Mobile Health Model", was written with Kait Guild, Assistant Director, Mobile Health Map, Harvard Medical School. The article focuses on how an interprofessional team can develop and deliver alternate models of care. The data they have generated continues to be exceptional and support the work of the MobileMoc team as important and life changing for our aging folks in our 10 surrounding rural counties. 

In response to President Randy Boyd’s focus on workforce needs in Tennessee, we are looking at our programs from top to bottom. Under consideration is adding an MSN back for our Nurse Practitioner programs. We will retain our DNP for those three population foci but are exploring the additional degree as a way to allow more nurse practitioners to earn a degree that is required for certification and licensure. More to come on that as we work through the process.

Excitement is growing here in the College with the anticipation of great changes. Feel free to reach out!

-Chris

The baccalaureate degree in nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice, and post-graduate APRN certificate at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org).

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.