2018-2019
News Release
REF NO.: 36
SUBJECT: Name change marks 52 years of growth for Faculty of Nursing
DATE: December 18, 2018
Nursing students returning to classes on Memorial’s St. John’s campus in January will open the doors to the university’s newest faculty, the Faculty of Nursing.
Approved recently by the Board of Regents, Memorial’s former School of Nursing’s new name reflects more than half a century's growth in program offerings, student population and service to the larger community.
It’s a nice way to close out 2018 and a big deal for the faculty, established in 1966 with a student population of just 38.
“This is good news for us because it reflects how we have grown from having an undergraduate program more than 50 years ago to offering numerous undergraduate and graduate programs today,” said Dean Alice Gaudine. “It also reflects how we have grown in research and in public engagement.”
Numerous programs on offer
Once housed in the former-Faculty of Arts in the Arts and Administration building, the program began with just three faculty members offering classes to undergraduate nursing and post-registered nursing students.
These days, undergraduate and graduate programs include a bachelor of nursing with four-year, fast-track and accelerated options, a master of nursing degree with practicum and nurse practitioner options, a post-master's nursing practitioner diploma and a PhD in nursing.
Eighty-five undergraduate students and 36 master’s students are admitted every year; PhD students are admitted every two years.
“We are ending 2018 on a high note,” said Dr. Gaudine. “We’ve grown from a school where courses were offered solely on campus to becoming leaders in online nursing education. We also continue to be active in the scholarship of teaching, keeping students engaged and active in their learning.
“Our students and faculty members are earning awards, the school is growing its research capacity and our PhD students are accelerating that growth,” Dr. Gaudine continued.
Top performance
Excellence and accessibility have long been hallmarks of the faculty.
For more than 20 years the school and their partners for the bachelor of nursing (collaborative) program, the Centre for Nursing Studies and Western Regional School of Nursing, have consistently achieved the gold standard in accreditation for nursing education, awarded by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing.
When the master of nursing program transitioned from classroom-based to online delivery, it was a game-changer for nursing education and the nursing profession. Suddenly, a master's degree was within reach of busy nurses juggling work and home.
During the school’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2016, the Cahill Nursing Simulation Room and the Collaboration for Evidence-Based Nursing and Primary Health Care, a Joanna Briggs Affiliated Group, opened to expand simulation activities for students and to increase research capacity.
And just this year, along with the Centre for Nursing Studies and Western Regional School of Nursing, faculty members began implementing a concept-based undergraduate curriculum.
The new curriculum focuses on integration of Indigenous knowledge and wisdom, emphasizes experiential learning, brings real-life situations to the classroom and introduces a new three-year accelerated option of the bachelor of nursing program beginning September 2019.
REF NO.: 36
SUBJECT: Name change marks 52 years of growth for Faculty of Nursing
DATE: December 18, 2018
Nursing students returning to classes on Memorial’s St. John’s campus in January will open the doors to the university’s newest faculty, the Faculty of Nursing.
Approved recently by the Board of Regents, Memorial’s former School of Nursing’s new name reflects more than half a century's growth in program offerings, student population and service to the larger community.
It’s a nice way to close out 2018 and a big deal for the faculty, established in 1966 with a student population of just 38.
“This is good news for us because it reflects how we have grown from having an undergraduate program more than 50 years ago to offering numerous undergraduate and graduate programs today,” said Dean Alice Gaudine. “It also reflects how we have grown in research and in public engagement.”
Numerous programs on offer
Once housed in the former-Faculty of Arts in the Arts and Administration building, the program began with just three faculty members offering classes to undergraduate nursing and post-registered nursing students.
These days, undergraduate and graduate programs include a bachelor of nursing with four-year, fast-track and accelerated options, a master of nursing degree with practicum and nurse practitioner options, a post-master's nursing practitioner diploma and a PhD in nursing.
Eighty-five undergraduate students and 36 master’s students are admitted every year; PhD students are admitted every two years.
“We are ending 2018 on a high note,” said Dr. Gaudine. “We’ve grown from a school where courses were offered solely on campus to becoming leaders in online nursing education. We also continue to be active in the scholarship of teaching, keeping students engaged and active in their learning.
“Our students and faculty members are earning awards, the school is growing its research capacity and our PhD students are accelerating that growth,” Dr. Gaudine continued.
Top performance
Excellence and accessibility have long been hallmarks of the faculty.
For more than 20 years the school and their partners for the bachelor of nursing (collaborative) program, the Centre for Nursing Studies and Western Regional School of Nursing, have consistently achieved the gold standard in accreditation for nursing education, awarded by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing.
When the master of nursing program transitioned from classroom-based to online delivery, it was a game-changer for nursing education and the nursing profession. Suddenly, a master's degree was within reach of busy nurses juggling work and home.
During the school’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2016, the Cahill Nursing Simulation Room and the Collaboration for Evidence-Based Nursing and Primary Health Care, a Joanna Briggs Affiliated Group, opened to expand simulation activities for students and to increase research capacity.
And just this year, along with the Centre for Nursing Studies and Western Regional School of Nursing, faculty members began implementing a concept-based undergraduate curriculum.
The new curriculum focuses on integration of Indigenous knowledge and wisdom, emphasizes experiential learning, brings real-life situations to the classroom and introduces a new three-year accelerated option of the bachelor of nursing program beginning September 2019.
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