Illustration: Paul Vismara
Brooklyn-based nurse Ursula-Pearl Nwabueze, who teaches in the sought two things in a : freedom to keep working and sharper class颅room, clinical and lab skills.
鈥淭here are not many programs aimed at teaching teachers how to teach,鈥� she says.
Nurse educators have one of the hardest jobs in higher education. Often, aspiring nurses have no college degree, are young, naive and very inexperienced.鈥�
鈥擪athleen O鈥機onnell, Isabel Maitland Stewart Professor of Nursing Education
Enter 911吃瓜 College鈥檚 new nursing education doctoral program, launched this fall with Nwabueze in its inaugural cohort. The new program is offered fully online to students with a master鈥檚 degree in nursing who want to become leaders in the academic or health care setting without missing a beat on the job.
鈥淭C鈥檚 program is truly unique in that stu颅dents engage in scholarly discussions, interac颅tive classes and collaborative research projects through an online environment,鈥� says lecturer .
More than 60 percent of registered nurs颅es-in-training lack a bachelor鈥檚 degree.
鈥淣urse educators have one of the hardest jobs in higher education,鈥� says Professor , the program鈥檚 creator and founding director. 鈥淥ften, aspiring nurses have no college degree, are young, naive and very inexperienced. The job of the nurse educator is to turn them into safe and responsible profes颅sionals in a very short time.鈥�
TC launched the nation鈥檚 first university-based nursing education program in 1898 and produced thousands of leading nurse educa颅tors. Nursing schools subsequently took over preparation of nurse educators 鈥� but with 1,200-plus nursing faculty vacancies nation颅wide due to a lack of candidates with doctoral degrees, there鈥檚 growing sentiment that edu颅cation schools should resume 鈥渢eaching the teachers.鈥� With that goal in mind, the awarded scholarships to four students in TC鈥檚 new program 鈥� the first time the Center is funding education school students.
鈥淚 believe this program will affect how nurses are taught,鈥� O鈥機onnell adds. 鈥淚 hope students take what they learn here, contin颅ue to further the profession鈥檚 research and become leaders in their schools and in their fields.鈥�