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TTU nursing program again among the best nationally

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Another ranking has placed Tennessee Tech University s Whitson-Hester School of Nursing among the top programs in the nation.

The organization RNtoBSN.org, which helps nurses with associate s degrees find programs and resources to pursue their bachelor s degrees, ranked Tennessee Tech as the seventh best RN to BSN campus program of more than 700 across the nation.

This ranking reflects how hard our faculty work and how dedicated and talented our students are, said nursing dean Huey-Ming Tzeng. Nationally, there is a tremendous need for a more highly developed and more educated nursing workforce. The Whitson-Hester School of Nursing is filling that need by allowing already licensed nurses to complete a bachelor s of science in nursing degree.

In addition, we have plans to expand existing partnerships with some of our community colleges who offer associate degree programs and provide even more seamless progression and completion of the BSN at Tennessee Tech.

The School of Nursing is the only program in Tennessee to make the on-campus RN to BSN list. Tennessee Tech is one of three Southern programs in the top 10, with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Central Florida. The ranking is based in part on national licensure exam pass rates, academic quality and academic and career counseling services.

In recent years, the RN to BSN program has moved to an online format to provide easier educational access for practicing nurses, and dedicated a faculty coordinator to help students in the program.

Nursing faculty continue to adapt the program to make it more responsive to students needs, including allowing for experiential learning credit in some courses. The school offers a master s degree with concentrations in family nurse practitioner, nursing education, nursing administration and nursing informatics.

Last year, an accelerated program was piloted to let students with bachelor s degrees in other disciplines earn their four-year nursing degree in 18 months.

A joint doctoral degree in nursing practice is being developed with East Tennessee State University.

TTU s pre-licensure pass rates this year were 98 percent; the program s four-year average is 96 percent. The national average is 86 percent.

This is also the second year Tennessee Tech s nursing program is in the top five of CollegeAtlas.org s ranking. The program is the only top-10 Tennessee institution in the 2014 rankings.

Nursing students regularly get the chance to travel internationally to explore other types of health care systems and use their skills. In recent years, they have gone to Haiti, Cuba and Finland. 

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