Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University is strengthening its emphasis on care for older adults by establishing a doctoral degree program in gerontological nursing. The Ph.D in Nursing in Aging program is made possible through a federal grant and a partnership with the University of Iowa's College of Nursing.
The three-year, $1.2 million grant for improving nursing education comes from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
As part of the doctoral program, students will be taught by nursing faculty from Mennonite College of Nursing and the University of Iowa's College of Nursing through a collaborative teaching arrangement using distance learning technology.
The collaborative degree program, designed to address a critical shortage of nursing faculty, will become fully developed over the next few years. Students beginning their doctoral studies in the first year will be admitted to the University of Iowa's program, while Mennonite faculty members continue to develop program curricula.
University of Iowa nursing faculty will teach the majority of doctoral classes in the first two years of the program.
Mennonite faculty will begin teaching some classes during the second year with more course offerings added in the third year of the program. Once the program is fully developed, pending appropriate program approvals, Mennonite faculty will teach approximately three-quarters of the classes and Mennonite will be able to grant the doctoral degree by the program's fourth or fifth year.
Money from the HRSA grant will also aid Mennonite's efforts to recruit and retain additional faculty members in gerontological nursing as well as pay for additional distance learning technology for collaborative teaching.
“Last year, approximately 30,000 qualified students across the country were not able to enter nursing programs, due largely to a shortage of nursing faculty,” said Brenda Recchia Jeffers, director of the Graduate Program at Mennonite College of Nursing. “The collaborative partnership between Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University and University of Iowa is a step toward addressing the current critical shortage of nursing faculty.”
“Mennonite College of Nursing is developing regional and national recognition as a center of excellence in preparing to care for the older adult,” said Nancy Ridenour, dean of Mennonite College of Nursing. “With our existing relationship with the University of Iowa College of Nursing and enhancing the scholarship of our existing faculty and preparing additional faculty scholars, we can increase enrollments and further the research we have already begun in gerontology.”
“This exciting program will develop a doctoral partnership between Mennonite College of Nursing and the University of Iowa College of Nursing,” said Ann Marie McCarthy, director of the Doctoral Program in Nursing at the University of Iowa. “I believe this partnership will be beneficial to students and faculty at both institutions.”
“This collaborative effort is truly a ‘win-win' situation for both institutions,” said Melanie Dreher, Kelting Dean and Professor, College of Nursing at the University of Iowa. “Both colleges of nursing share a sincere interest in caring for older adults. Providing graduates with expertise at the doctoral level in caring for older adults is essential to the health care of our nation's elderly.”