Fast-track joint education degree in the works in Enid; NWOSU touts nursing doctoral program | News

ENID, Okla. — An additional energy to address the state’s rising teacher scarcity has Enid’s two better education and learning institutions partnering to shorten the time it requires learners to get an education diploma.

The Enid campuses of Northern Oklahoma College or university and Northwestern Oklahoma State College will commence furnishing a quickly-track degree method to aspiring elementary training pupils, the schools both equally announced this month.

NWOSU and NOC will keep joint advisement sessions over this quickly-monitor method at the NOC Enid campus in Montgomery Corridor and in the foyer of the Zollars Making from 8 a.m. to midday on Monday and Tuesday following 7 days, then again on April 18-19.

College officials could not be reached Thursday to say when the plan would start off admitting college students.

Enid campus pupils would be dual-enrolled and getting classes at both equally establishments, earning an associate diploma and a bachelor’s diploma in a few and a half many years.

“As Oklahoma is dealing with a teacher scarcity, this method enables college students to acquire their degrees quicker although even now acquiring the very same great high-quality education and learning for which Northern and Northwestern are regarded,” reported Tiffany Meacham, Enid educational adviser for elementary education at NOC, in a push release issued by the faculty.

NWOSU President Janet Cunningham reported a scholar would get less time in the application if they by now were being concurrently enrolled at NOC whilst at Enid Substantial University, whose University Centre permits large schoolers to take university-stage and AP courses.

As a condition necessity, pupils will continue on to comprehensive their student instructing assignments in their final semester of university.

NWOSU and NOC currently have a partnership in area by way of their degree transfer “bridge” method. Due to the fact 2007, students who acquire their affiliate diploma at NOC can simply transfer to and obtain scholarships from NWOSU to total their bachelor’s.

The two campuses sit future doorway to each other, with a physical bridge connecting the colleges.

Enid Public Schools’ Fowler Early Childhood Center, which opened future to NWOSU in 2019, also enables NWOSU early childhood schooling pupils to perform with pre-K learners all through the university year.

Cunningham said the new joint prepare was a “very prescribed program” for learners who start as a freshman, during a presentation to the Oklahoma Point out Regents for Bigger Training on Wednesday at NWOSU-Enid.

“We want to check out and shift them appropriate via,” she reported.

Cunningham mentioned she considered Wednesday was the first time the state regents have met at any of Northwestern’s campuses in a regular assembly.

Regents Chancellor Allison Garrett mentioned throughout the conference she hopes the condition Legislature continues to devote in engineering/laptop or computer technological innovation, teacher training and nursing.

The latter two occupations are among the NWOSU-Enid’s greatest submit-secondary applications.

Cunningham on Wednesday also touted the university’s relatively new doctoral nursing program for students.

NWOSU’s Bachelor of Science in nursing to health practitioner of nursing apply software — its only provided qualified degree — began using pupils in 2017 and is fully privately funded from trust donations.

Graduates then test to turn into nursing practitioners and can commence their practice, with no a end at a master’s diploma.

The initially course of 7 graduated in 2020. Though graduating classes had enhanced to 12 learners in 2021, Cunningham stated 6 doctoral learners are established to graduate this calendar year.

Forty-just one students — many of whom are career nurses — are enrolled in the system, which requires doctoral candidates to also have a CNA (certified nursing aide) certification together with their BSN.

NWOSU also has a registered nurse to BSN plan.

She stated a latest study from NWOSU showed that 100% of graduates have handed a certification exam to be family members nurse practitioners.

Grads also claimed 100% work, “as you may possibly think about,” Cunningham explained. Extra than fifty percent exercise in most important or urgent care centers.

The 3-yr, whole-time BSN to DNP software is practically fully virtual, she said, with learners and college expected to occur to the Enid campus in-individual for many weeks in the summer. The program’s school is distant and total-time (the chair of the division lives in Wisconsin).

Registered nursing ranks amid the state’s top rated 100 significant occupations — employment in substantial need that are projected to have beneficial growth.

Two-thirds of these important occupations need at the very least an affiliate diploma, Chancellor Garrett said.

In 2019, all around 30,500 registered nurses were being employed in Oklahoma, in accordance to the Oklahoma Will work method, which is component of the state’s Business of Workforce Advancement.

RNs earned a median $29.69 an hour in 2019, in accordance to Oklahoma Operates family members and typical practitioners gain upwards of $100 an hour.