A new year and a new semester!  Along with the State of the Union, you have the State of the College of Nursing. Reports from some of the Associate Deans will give you some facts and projections from your alma mater.

Gaining in popularity, the MSN program has quadrupled in size in the last six years. The Master of Science in Nursing program builds upon UT Tyler’s undergraduate program in nursing and provides a firm basis for doctoral level education.  Within the MSN degree, the following options are available: Administrative-MSN option, the Education-MSN option, Nursing Education Certificate, the RN-MSN degree option, the MSN-MBA degree option and the MSN/NP degree options. The MSN program incorporates quality with convenience.  The online program offers students the flexibility to complete their degree and manage a busy lifestyles common to most nurses today.  More exciting opportunities await students interested in advancing their education. UT Tyler has been granted preliminary planning authority to plan and develop a doctoral program in nursing. The program and curriculum are currently in the development stages. For more information about the program visit the website: http://www.uttyler.edu/nursing/phd/ Dr. Susan Yarbrough, PhD, RN Associate Dean for Graduate Programs

Busy! Busy! Busy! Increasing numbers of applicants, admissions, and faculty fill the halls. Would you believe that we have outgrown this new building—our very own NURSING building which was completed in 2003?  The undergraduate program received continuing accreditation status from the Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas along with commendations for a 97.03% pass rate in 2004. Stats for 2005 are not available at this printing. Effective for the summer of 2006, the pathophysiology course for nursing majors will be taught in the College of Nursing. The course is NURS 3303, Pathophysiology of Acute Care [3 sh], and it will begin in Summer I, 2006, and will be taught each long semester and summer semester as needed. Also, look at the School of Nursing growth trends for student admission over the past two years: SEMESTER GENERIC LVN RN TOTALS SPRING 2006 470 25 37 532 FALL 2005 495 27 41 563 SPRING 2005 451 28 40 519 FALL 2004 391 32 45 468 Admission Counselors are on each campus, and they enjoy helping students understand the admission criteria and the steps involved to complete admission. The Counselor on the Tyler campus is Andi Liner, the Palestine Counselor is Susan Harris, and the Counselor on the Longview campus is Lori Greer. The distance campuses (Palestine and Longview) have continued to experience growth, as well as the Tyler campus.  Each distance campus has between 95 and 100 nursing students taking courses each semester. Pam Martin, PhD, RN Associate Dean for Undergraduate Nursing Programs

Ten candles on our cake!! This has been an exciting year as we celebrated the collaborative Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Program with Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Nursing. During the ten years, two HRSA grants were awarded to establish the collaborative program and to add  three additional tracks: Acute Care Practitioner(ACNP), Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP), and Geriatric Nurse Practitioner (GNP). The FNP and ACNP tracks are offered every year. Currently the PNP track is offered on even years and the GNP track is offered on the odd years. To date, we have had a total of sixty-four graduates, including 45 MSNs, 11 post-MSNs, and 8 RN-MSNs. All NP graduates represent 56 FNPs, 7 ACNPs, and 1 GNP. Although we have not had any PNP students graduate from the Tyler campus, there have been three graduates from the program. Currently, there are two Tyler student enrolled in the PNP track. Because the scope of practice of each particular advanced practice track is well defined, some graduates return to school to expand their skills, eg. an ACNP is limited to working with adults in acute care facilities. So additional certification in the FNP or PNP track would expand their practice arena.  Our largest-ever class of FNP students began classes during the Spring of 2006, when fourteen students were admitted into the Tyler program. FNP admissions are expected to continue to increase, because of the job market expansion in the East Texas area where graduates are actively recruited. We are also very pleased to have a cadre of our graduates serving as preceptors for our current students. If you are interested in any of the nurse practitioner tracks, please contact me at gvarnell@uttyler.edu. Gayle Varnell, PhD, CPNP, RN Associate Dean for Advanced Practice

Have you heard the WHISPERS? Yes, in April 2005, the College of Nursing was given preliminary approval to develop a PhD program in Nursing. It will be the first doctoral program on campus!!!! A doctoral planning committee has been working diligently over the past year to complete the final proposal, which will be submitted in February to the Coordinating Board for the State of Texas. The final approval process takes approximately one year, meaning that the first classes are planned to begin in Fall 2007. The focus of the on-line program is ‘global health’ and is built upon a model of strengths. Students will be able to remain at home and use the resources and knowledge of their own community to develop research projects about the concerns common to communities throughout the globe, such as access to care, health promotion, and quality of life. The program is open to baccalaureate and master’s prepared nurses. For additional information, please visit the program website at http://www.uttyler.edu/nursing/phd/ or contact me at  bhaas@uttyler.edu Barbara Haas, PhD, RN Director of the Doctoral Program

Name Change

The Office of Nursing Research and Scholarship is both growing and developing (including its new name) as the College of Nursing matures. Check the web page to see a current list of research projects which are in progress, as well as faculty who are involved. http://www.uttyler.edu/ --> left index: Quick Links -->click Academic Departments --> click on College of  Nursing (CON) --> tool bar at the foot of the page, click on 3rd line on right on "Research" --> opens to Office of Nursing Research and Scholarship --> click on Faculty Research and Scholarly Achievement to see the projects.  

Congratulations to Pam Lake, Dr. Jackie McVey, Dr. Carole McKenzie, Dr.Sue Thompson, and Lisa Herterich for having their presentations accepted for the Reflective Practice Conference in London [England, no less] in Summer 2006 . . . way to go!!

The next East Texas Consortium for Evidence-Based Practice will meet on Thursday, March 9 at 4:30 PM in the nursing building. Call Dr. Duke at 903.566.7023 or Joan Elliott at 903.565.5526 for more information. Check the group's web site at http://www.etcebp.com/