The UB School of Nursing is addressing its current shortage of faculty and has received a $1.47 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HSRA) to help expand UB's doctorate program in nursing all across New York State.
The UB nursing doctorate program is only one of two public doctorate programs in the entire SUNY system of 64 campuses.
"It's the first distance learning Ph.D. in the state for… nursing. It will allow nurses across the state to take classes remotely from web cameras at their desktop…" said Suzanne Dickerson, director of the Ph.D. program and associate professor of nursing. "[This affects] not just New York State but also beyond."
The new program will combine on-campus and distance learning, helping those who are unable to be on campus and those who have to work while attending school. A new technology room will also accompany the program. Students will not only be able to attend classes on campus, but will have the ability to also access the class via videoconference.
"Videoconferencing involves bridging to multiple students at the same time, so they can see the professor, students in the room, and the class material," Dickerson said. "[Students] should be able to see the class from their personal computers."
One goal of the program is to increase the supply of nurse Ph.D.s so more can be trained in the future. The other aspect is to increase research emphasis on clinical nursing outcomes related to health disparities.
"What they do is… match their research ideas with our faculty expertise, which helps them mentor their research," Dickerson said.
With the grant and education of new faculty, current faculty expects the program to expand its number of Ph.D. nursing faculty and the amount of students enrolled. In past years, many hopefuls applied for the program only to be turned away.
When program evaluations were completed, administrators realized that there were too many freshmen accepted to the program. Last spring, the School of Nursing questioned what to do with those students who applied with completed prerequisites, but were not granted admission.
"That's part of the problem," Dickerson said. "[There were] too many [students] applying and not enough faculty to train them."
Retirement is another factor that has kept the shortage going, but also has kept the demand for the profession high. With more faculty members in the program, more students will be able to be trained.
"With the aging workforce, people will be retiring, so that's another whole issue," Dickerson said. "So we need to keep replacing the faculty, with retirements happening."
The distance-learning program will begin this spring semester.
"[Videoconferencing] is just another way for students to enter the program," said David Lang, director of Student affairs in the school of nursing. "So it's beneficial for students and the profession."
