September 25-26, 2003
ITEM120-2018-R0903:��������������� Authorization to Establish an Upper Division Nursing Campus in Bozeman; Montana State University-Bozeman
THAT:�������������������������������������� The Board of Regents of Higher Education Authorizes Montana State University-Bozeman to Establish an Upper Division Nursing Campus in Bozeman
EXPLANATION:����������������������� The College of Nursing at Montana State University- Bozeman requests authorization to establish an upper division nursing campus in Bozeman, Montana. The mission of the College of Nursing is to serve the people and communities of Montana by sharing expertise and collaborating with others to improve the lives and prosperity of Montanans.
As the seventh largest generic baccalaureate nursing
program in the United States, the College of Nursing is a
multicampus system, educating nurses in five locations
including Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls, Missoula and
Kalispell. Currently, both lower and upper division nursing
courses are offered on all campuses except Bozeman. Until
this time, Bozeman was not considered to be a large enough
community to provide the necessary numbers and variety of
clinical experiences for baccalaureate nursing education.
However, in the past ten years, the City of Bozeman and
Gallatin County have grown significantly in terms of the
population and the health care system. This growth
resulted in a College of Nursing assessment and conclusion
that clinical educational opportunities now exist which will
support upper division coursework in this community.
The goal of this proposal is to increase access and
enrollment to the College�s baccalaureate nursing program
by offering all junior and senior nursing courses at the MSU -
Bozeman campus. A cohort of sixteen students will be
admitted beginning Fall Semester 2004, and each year
thereafter provided there is continued student interest and
the resources in the College of Nursing to sustain the
program. Ultimately, the implementation of this proposal will
increase the numbers of graduates from the College of
Nursing by 16 per year. This will increase the state-wide
pool of professional nurses for Montana at a time when a
nursing shortage is critical.