10/10/05 Contact: David M. Granger, 334-844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)
Deedie Dowdle, 334-844-9999 (ddowdle@auburn.edu)

AU, AUM APPROVED FOR JOINT MASTER'S PROGRAM IN NURSING

AUBURN – Auburn University and Auburn University Montgomery will jointly administer a new master’s degree program in nursing, approved recently by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.

According to Barbara Witt, dean of the joint AU-AUM nursing program, the new degree program, which will award a master’s of science in nursing, differs from other nursing master’s programs in the state in that it is intended to prepare nurses for jobs as educators rather than clinicians. Even more practically, the program is aimed at addressing the growing shortage of nursing faculty in Alabama, the Southeast and the nation, Witt said.

“We are experiencing a state, national and international shortage of nurses,” Witt said. “To begin to correct this shortage, we need to increase enrollments in nursing undergraduate programs. To increase enrollments, we need adequate resources. The most critical of those resources is faculty. Right now, the number of nursing faculty in this country is simply not adequate.”

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, almost 33,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing schools nationwide in 2004, including 615 in Alabama. The AACN cited the shortage of nursing faculty as a major reason for turning these students away.

In addition, the Southern Regional Education Board reported in 2004 that 12 percent of nursing faculty positions at member schools were vacant. An Alabama Hospital Association study conducted in June 2005 indicated 11.6 percent of budgeted faculty lines were vacant in Alabama schools of nursing.

The new AU-AUM joint program’s first class will include a total of 25 students enrolled in summer and fall of 2006.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

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oct05:AU-nursingmsn