EUGENE, Ore. — Northwest Christian University has signed articulation agreements with Lane Community College’s registered nursing program and with Corvallis-based Samaritan Health Services, which operates five hospitals in the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon Coast.
“NCU is pleased to have strong relationships with Samaritan Health Services and LCC,” said Joseph D. Womack, Ed.D., president of NCU. “A commitment to rigorous education and quality health care demonstrates our shared value to serve the community and the entire region.”
NCU has partnered with LCC to create a pathway for graduates of its registered nursing program to enroll in NCU’s Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science of Nursing (RN to BSN) program ready to take classes in the major. LCC RN graduates can graduate from NCU in as little as 10 months.
“We’re pleased to partner with NCU to offer this important opportunity to our students,” said Mary Spilde, president of Lane. “Our students are exceptionally dedicated to health care and they’re consistently top performers. Partnering with NCU will give students a local option to earn an advanced degree, in addition to our existing arrangement with OHSU through the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education.”
In addition, Registered Nurses working for Samaritan Health Services who have completed the system’s critical care internship program can now apply those credits toward an NCU bachelor’s degree.
“We typically have a number of nurses who want to complete their bachelor’s degree while continuing to work, and this agreement facilitates that process as well as helping us address the ongoing need for critical care nurses,” said Bill Howden, vice president for patient care services at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. “This is a win-win arrangement.”
Prospective students enrolling in NCU’s RN to BSN program must be graduates of an accredited registered nursing program and have an unencumbered license as a registered nurse.
The NCU RN to BSN program is 30-semester credit program consisting of 10 eight-week classes and is taught online by NCU faculty and adjunct professors with years of professional health care experience and appropriate academic credentials.
NCU’s RN to BSN program was founded in partnership with PeaceHealth in fall 2015 to offer a regionally accredited program designed for recent graduates of registered nursing programs and more experienced registered nurses who want to earn a bachelor of nursing degree.
The first cohort of NCU students will graduate in December of 2016.
More information about NCU’s RN to BSN program can be found online at: http://bit.ly/24mGJda
About Northwest Christian University
Northwest Christian University is a liberal arts institution dedicated to providing a transformational education that champions wisdom, faith and service. Accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the University was founded in 1895 and is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. Northwest Christian University offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in traditional undergraduate, adult degree, and graduate program formats, as well as online programs for an MBA and an RN to BSN. More information about the University is available at www.nwcu.edu
Contact: Pat Walsh, Northwest Christian University, 541-513-1236, pwalsh@nwcu.edu