ADA – In anticipation of growing its esteemed program, East Central University’s School of Nursing will expand admission and focus classroom instruction on the Ada campus.
While classroom instruction will be phased out on the Southeastern Oklahoma State University campus in Durant, ECU remains committed to maintaining and strengthening its current clinical relationships in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, as well as developing new partnerships in the healthcare community as opportunities arise.
“This is an exciting and important moment for the ECU Nursing program,” said Dr. Katricia Pierson, ECU president. “We are grateful to Southeastern for hosting classes for our program over the past 20 years in what has proven to be an excellent academic partnership. At the same time, we are looking forward to expanding ECU’s Nursing enrollment in Ada.”
The ECU School of Nursing has offered classes on the Durant campus since 2001 – much of that time via televised instruction – and has assisted many students in earning their ECU Nursing degrees at that location.
“Southeastern has a strong Pre-Nursing program in place that will continue uninterrupted,” said Thomas Newsom, SOSU president. “This allows our students to transfer to any number of Nursing programs, in addition to ECU. It is important to note that there will be a teach-out of current ECU students who are in, or recently accepted into, the existing ECU Nursing program taught on the Southeastern campus in Durant. In the meantime, we will continue to pursue other opportunities regarding pathways to Nursing programs and partnerships that would benefit our Pre-Nursing students.”
Dr. Darcy Duncan, ECU School of Nursing director, traveled to Durant this week to visit with students taking courses on the SOSU campus.
“We assured them they will be provided the quality didactic and clinical experiences needed for them to complete their ECU Nursing degree in Durant or in Ada,” Duncan said.
Currently, ECU’s School of Nursing accepts approximately 50 new students each year on the Ada campus and around 30 students on the Durant campus.
“For the past 20 years, Southeastern has been proud to partner with ECU to allow them to deliver the Nursing program on our campus,” Newsom said. “We anticipate that their decision to shift the curriculum delivery to their Ada campus will enable them to grow their program.”
Consolidating instruction in Ada will allow ECU to expand the program to accept as many as 100 students annually, thereby increasing the total number of qualified nurses available to meet the healthcare demands of southeastern Oklahoma and northern Texas.
“ECU places successful Nursing students all over the state, and that will certainly continue,” Pierson said. “We will be making room for our students now based in Durant and will welcome them with open arms should they choose to continue their Nursing studies here.”
Note: This is a joint press release from ECU and SOSU.
-ECU/SOSU-