By AJ Power, Staff Writer
Over the past week, St. Bonaventure University has advertised the new Dual Degree Nursing Program in daily Notice Boards. This unique program combines the facilities of the university and Jamestown Community College. Students who would like to be a part of the program should apply for admissions through the university and live on the campus: however, they take classes at both SBU and JCC.
This is a competitive program: it only admits 13 students per year. Applicants must have earned a 90% grade point average or above in high school courses and have a passing grade in high school or college chemistry.
During your first year of the program, all but two classes are taken on Bonaventure’s campus. Second and third year, all but one class is taken at JCC. And during the final year, all classes are on Bonaventure’s campus.
Students must meet certain benchmarks to advance through the program. Students will have a faculty adviser to help them meet the program benchmarks and guide them through the process of meeting requirements of the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) program at JCC.
Studies in the first, second and third year of the program prepare students to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) while taking liberal arts and sciences through a blended-campus approach.
When completing the third year, students receive an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing degree from JCC and are then allowed to take the NCLEXRN to become a registered nurse.
Since the last year is in a hybrid format, this gives students the flexibility to begin working as registered nurses to gain experience while finishing their bachelor’s degree.
We don’t really have a direct premed track at Bonaventure, like at other universities; you basically take the prerequisite courses and go in the direction you want to,” said Bhavika Sethi, a sophomore behavioral neuroscience major. “I feel like having a direct track for nursing is a great addition because it gives the kind of guidance you want in an undergrad program for people who are really pursuing a career in nursing. As someone who’s in the healthcare-related majors area and also a first-generation college student, I’m definitely familiar with not always knowing what the correct path is and it’s great to have that in pre-med related majors.”
Bonaventure’s nursing programs are part of the university’s School of Health Professions, which is housed in Francis Hall, where $15 million in renovations in 2020-21 transformed the dated building into a state-of-the-art health care education center.
Facilities for the program include a diagnostics lab that consists of 3,000 square feet (about the area of a tennis court) of floor space. Inside that space are three exam rooms, inpatient stations with hospital beds, real nursing equipment and outpatient learning station that include clinic exam tables and divider curtains. The building also consists of student breakout rooms, locker rooms, modern classrooms and meeting spaces.
JCC offers dedicated classrooms and labs as well. A dedicated nursing arts laboratory is also available that includes high- and low-fidelity simulation manikins, clinical supplies and presentation technology equipment.
“This agreement represents a public-private partnership that will ultimately enhance the health care outcomes of Cattaraugus and surrounding counties by increasing the availability of bachelor’s-trained nurses who are so critical to the public health,” said Dr. Doug Pisano, founding dean and professor in SBU’s School of Health Professions, in a Feb. 9 press release on sbu.edu.
This program will become available to students in the fall of 2021.
powersaj17@bonaventure.edu
