Our Philosophy of Nursing and Nursing Education
The School of Nursing (SON) faculty believes the B.S.N. degree is the minimum level of educational preparation for professional nurses. The faculty also believes that nursing education should be based in the liberal arts and sciences with the majority of non-nursing education courses placed at the general core level. In keeping with these beliefs, the majority of the School of Nursing course hours are in nursing science. Nursing science courses are constructed to develop the student through the integration of nursing knowledge and knowledge from the humanities and the social and natural sciences.
The faculty of the SON believes that nursing education must be individualized to meet the learning needs of each student. The SON faculty also believes that innovative and flexible means of entering the program should be available. As a result, the SON admits students into the School of Nursing on either a part-time or full-time basis, as fully or provisionally admitted students.
The SON faculty believes the educational concepts; "transfer of learning" and "critical thinking" are more valuable than rote memorization. Because the world of nursing is evolving and rapidly changing, it is important that students learn to transfer knowledge from one situation to another, while making decisions based on critical thinking specific to that situation. The SON provides nursing education that is based in practice, thus giving students an opportunity to transfer theoretical knowledge into clinical learning experiences. Faculty are committed to preparing each student so that they become practicing graduates who contribute to nursing as competent and caring professionals.
Nursing Education
Faculty members in the Jeanette C. Rudy School of Nursing support the MSN degree as the initial graduate level of educational preparation for professional nurses. Nursing science courses are constructed to develop the student through the integration of nursing knowledge and knowledge from the humanities and social natural sciences.
Nursing faculty members also support that the educational concepts of “transfer of learning” and “critical thinking” are more valuable than rote memorization. The world of nursing is rapidly evolving and changing, thus it is more important that students learn to transfer knowledge from one situation to another while making decisions based on critical thinking specific to a situation. The School of Nursing faculty is committed to preparing each student to become practicing graduates who contribute to nursing as competent and caring professionals.