by N. Lee Weeks
Southwest Baptist University-Springfield campus has been the home of St. John’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences since 1996. Both institutions have had a long history of caring for students. St. John’s School of Nursing was founded in 1905 and the first class graduated in 1907. This academic year, 2006-2007, Southwest Baptist University began its 128th year of Christian higher education, and St. John’s celebrates their 100th anniversary of educating nurses. Southwest Baptist University and St. John’s are also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Associate of Science in Nursing degree program and a partnership that has grown to benefit both nursing students and the health care community, locally and nationally.
In the mid-1980s Southwest Baptist University and St. John’s Hospital, Springfield had begun talking about the need for another Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) completion program for diploma nurses in the community. In 1984, Southwest Baptist University offered the first courses for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program. The new BSN program marked the beginning of a long and lasting relationship between SBU and St. John’s.
Twenty years later, the two institutions have grown considerably, never losing sight of one of their most common and important goals, providing nursing education in a personalized Christian environment and preparing students to be competent, caring professional nurses. Early in the 1990s, with the phasing out of hospital-based diploma programs nationwide, Southwest Baptist University and St. John’s came together again to offer an Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) degree program. The first class was accepted and began in the fall of 1996. The ASN program culminated an official partnership between Southwest Baptist University and St. John’s, and in 2004 the school of nursing became St. John’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences, making it the sixth college of Southwest Baptist University.
Fall 2006 brought a record first-day enrollment for the college of nursing. During the summer, the college of nursing facilities were renovated and expanded to accommodate the expected growth. “This is an exciting year for the College of Nursing,” says Dr. Jennifer Wilson, Dean. “Not only are we celebrating these anniversaries, but this fall we began the accelerated cohort-based BSN completion program. Because it is so heavily web-enhanced, it will better meet the needs of today’s working nurses.”
According to the latest U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, employment for registered nurses is expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through 2014. Generally, RNs with at least a bachelor’s degree will have better job prospects than those without a bachelor’s.
Today’s nurses are more versatile than ever before. Although, about 75% of the program’s ASN graduates choose to work for St. John’s Hospital-Springfield, graduates also go on to career opportunities as traveling nurses, school nurses, or in the mission field. BSN graduates are not only working in the hospital setting but working in management, administration, and education. Many Southwest Baptist University nursing graduates continue on and complete advanced degrees. Pre-nursing students are also enrolled on the Bolivar campus.
