Xenia Daily Gazette
CEDARVILLE — For the first time in its five-year history, Cedarville University’s School of Nursing will offer a spring start to its Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program in spring 2017.
Previously, students could only start the online curriculum in the fall, but the university’s push to make all of its graduate offerings even more affordable and convenient resulted in curriculum changes that make the additional start date possible.
“I was given the task to make our program more marketable,” said Sharon Christman, Ph.D., assistant dean and director of graduate programs for the school of nursing. “We sat down as MSN faculty and revised the program, including having two starts a year instead of one.”
Additional revisions include fully online courses, fewer credit hours so students can save money and an increase in faculty members who are experts in their concentration.
Christman said that having two start dates not only allows the school to admit more students into the program, but it also makes the program more “student friendly.”
“Students can enter at any time in many graduate programs, but because of the clinical component in an M.S.N. program, there is much less flexibility,” Christman said. “Now with our two formal start dates, students can complete the program quicker or slower depending on their individual needs.”
Cedarville’s M.S.N. program has three different tracks: Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), Nurse Educator and Global Public Health Nursing. The program has a core set of courses, but students also take five or six courses unique to their desired track.
With the popularity of the FNP track, the school will admit up to 24 FNP students in the fall and up to 18 in the spring. The other two tracks have no limit.
“Although we made multiple revisions to the MSN, the rigor and excellence of the program have not been compromised,” Christman said.
The school of nursing is also investigating scholarships for military personnel, military spouses, alumni and others to encourage them to apply to the revised program.
