I am nearing the end of my first academic year at the UNMC College of Nursing. It has been a fast and furious year with so much to learn from each of you and our constituents.
The year started off with a flurry of meetings in the college and listening forums across the state. Each has provided me with invaluable information to better understand the state of the college and the expectations of our community leaders, clinical partners, faculty, staff, students and donors.
Although our enrollment was down in fall 2023, I have happy to report that, with the hard work and dedication of each of you, our enrollment is up for fall 2024. In addition, in the spring of this year, we moved to twice-a-year admission at the Kearney Division and the Lincoln Division will follow suit in spring 2025. Our faculty are committed to addressing the workforce needs of the state and have worked hard to make twice-a-year admission possible!
This academic year we are working with several organizations to plan and help move our college forward. Here are the groups we have invited to campus to help support our work:
- Ruffalo Noel Levitt: Communication, marketing and enrollment management firm;
- AACN: New Essentials consultant for competency based education;
- Gillis Consulting: Executive council leadership retreat focusing on building a cohesive team;
- CFAR: Organizational culture consultation focused on college structure transition;
- Jeanette Andrews, PhD: Research consultant focused on building and strengthening our research enterprise; and
- Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence: Cultural sensitivity development
As you can see, faculty, staff and leadership have been busy collaborating with these groups to leverage our strengths. We also have welcomed our new associate dean of academic programs, Joachim Voss, PhD, who joined us on March 1. We are excited to have him join our team and look forward to his leadership in advancing the mission of the college. He already has hit the road running to visit all five of our divisions across the state.
We received a generous gift to establish the Mary Eliza Mahoney Mentoring Program. This program will support first-generation and students from underrepresented populations. Students participating in this program will be assigned a mentor who is a practicing nurse to work with them from admission to graduation.
They will benefit from tutoring, study groups and leadership development, and they will receive a $5,000 scholarship. After our first information session, more than 100 students are interested in the program. The Mary Eliza Mahoney Mentoring Program will be a game changer for our students, and we are grateful for the gift that has made this possible.
We look forward to seeing you on campus this fall, and hope the summer allows you to refresh and re-energize. In preparation for fall, your supervisors will reach out about the college’s expectations for a strong and vibrant presence from our students and colleagues.
With this in mind, all remote work agreements will be reviewed. As the largest student body at UNMC, we want to lead in our on-campus engagement. Strong engagement lends itself to improved productivity, provides support to colleagues and enhances the overall college experience for our students.
I am excited for what we have accomplished this year. Our future is bright, and I look forward to the impact we will have on the educational experience of our students, research implications for health outcomes and the impact on health care delivery through faculty practice models. The best is yet to come!