Southern captures ‘Nursing School of the Year’
BATON ROUGE, La. - Southern University's Graduate Nursing Program was recently honored as the 2015 "2015 Nursing School of the Year Advanced Practice Programs" by the Louisiana Nurses Foundation.
It is the third time in the past five years that Southern's nursing program has been chosen Nursing School/Program of the Year. Southern was selected as Nursing School of the Year in 2010 and 2012.
The School of Nursing also picked up several more major citations. Dr. Jacqueline Hill was inducted into the Louisiana Nursing Hall of Fame, Erica Joseph was chosen as "Advanced Practice Nurse of the Year" and Gordon Natal was awarded "Nurse Educator of the Year."
The selections were made at the 14th annual Nightingale Awards honoring Excellence in Nursing.
"While the BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) program is nationally recognized for its success with students from disadvantaged backgrounds this award highlights accomplishments of our graduate programs," said Dr. Janet Rami, Dean of the School of Nursing and Allied Health.
Southern's graduate programs include the Masters of Science in Nursing program that produces Family Nurse Practitioners, the new Doctorate in Nursing Program is designed for nurses seeking doctorate level study in nursing practice, and the Ph.D in nursing that prepares nurse scientists for education, service and research."
Judges for the nursing school of the year entries came from the Ohio Nurses Association, the North Carolina Nurses Association, Guam Nurses Association, Mississippi Nurses Association, the Texas Nurses Association, the Delaware Nurses Association, the Minnesota Organization of Registered Nurses, Virgin Island State Nurses Association, Oklahoma State Nurses Association and officials with nursing groups from New York and Massachusetts.
None of the judges were from Louisiana.
"This award serves as additional evidence of the excellent quality of nursing education at Southern Baton Rouge," Rami said.
"The selection is a blind review based on accomplishments of faculty and students and innovation in nursing education," Rami said.
Southern's School of Nursing is the largest producer of African American MSN graduates and the only producer of Ph.Ds in nursing graduates in the state of Louisiana, with 33 Ph.D graduates since its inception in 2000.
The MSN and DNP coordinator Dr. Sandra Brown led the faculty in launching the new DNP in 2012 with six DNP graduates to date. The School of Nursing graduated 49 percent (40 of 81) of all African Americans completing masters degrees in nursing in Louisiana universities (among 7 state universities) in 2013-14, according to Louisiana Board of Regents data.
The MSN graduates had a 97 percent first-time pass rate on the national certification exam for Family Nurse Practitioners in 2014.
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