Undergraduate Programs in Nursing

Dean: Dr. Billie Madler

Faculty: Berreth, Dunnigan, Gebhardt, Hair, Hovda, Hutzenbiler, Johnson, Jonas, Kanz, Leer, Mathern

Mission

Introduction

By fostering a Christian, Catholic, and Benedictine learning environment, the Division supports the University and St. Gianna School of Health Science’s mission by preparing leaders in the service of truth with moral courage who respect and defend the dignity of the human person. Academic preparation and nursing practice opportunities in a variety of health care settings along the continuum of care prepares students to achieve professional competence.

Mission Statement

The Nursing Division prepares nurses, with a foundation in moral courage, to protect the dignity of the human person and to provide safe, quality, compassionate, patient-centered health care to the people in the region and beyond.

Vision

Graduates of the St Gianna School of Health Sciences, Nursing Division, will be successful leaders, effective collaborators, sophisticated consumers of research, and compassionate providers of care. These graduates will be socially and ethically accountable, culturally sensitive, value the sanctity of life, respectful of diverse populations, and responsive to the changing health care environment.

Identity

As a flagship program of the University of Mary, we sustain the pioneering courage of our Founders, the Benedictine Sisters of Annunciation Monastery. We are a devoted community of faculty, students, and professional support staff who engage in rigorous teaching and learning experiences delivered in a nurturing environment to support our individual and collective professional discovery, growth, and development. We are a prayerful, faith-filled group serving the vocation of nursing. We are Mary Nurses for life.

Program Information

The Division of Nursing offers a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree in nursing. The curriculum prepares the graduate to: (1) practice professional nursing in a variety of environmental and cultural settings, (2) become leaders in health care, and (3) pursue graduate study in nursing.

The division traces its beginnings to the St. Alexius Hospital School of Nursing founded in 1915. The sponsoring body, the Benedictine Sisters of Annunciation Monastery, recognized the necessity of baccalaureate education and began Mary College; a major in nursing was among its initial programs. The first nursing students received a baccalaureate degree from the college and graduated in 1964. In 1986 the graduate program was initiated and the name, Mary College, changed to the University of Mary.

Continuing the Benedictine tradition which formed its beginnings, the division offers a program holistic in nature and characterized by Benedictine values. The undergraduate nursing curriculum is based upon suggestions outlined by the Institute of Medicine and built upon The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education authored by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. With this preparation, the nurse can continue to learn both through experience and further academic study and meet the demands of the role of the nurse in contemporary society.

Through its Kappa Upsilon Chapter, the Division of Nursing has membership in Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society in nursing. Candidates for membership must demonstrate superior scholarly achievement, evidence of leadership, and marked potential for achievement in the field of nursing.

The Baccalaureate, Master’s, and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs at the University of Mary are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org). Pre-licensure nursing programs are approved by the North Dakota Board of Nursing. Successful completion of the traditional, LPN to BSN or Accelerated 2nd Degree BSN program prepares the graduate for the NCLEX-RN licensure exam, which is developed and administered through the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.

Program Outcomes

At the end of the program, the baccalaureate graduate of the University of Mary, Division of Nursing will be able to:

Create healing environments by developing and maintaining respectful, caring, professional relationships based upon an under standing of person-environment interactions and the individual human experience of health, illness, and healing.
Provide safe, quality, cost-effective care to patients, families, and populations.
Collaborate with patients, families, and communities as part of nursing and inter/intraprofessional health care teams.
Integrate informatics and communication systems to improve patient care outcomes.
Engage in lifelong learning through the application of evidence-based knowledge from nursing and the arts and sciences as the basis for nursing practice.
Integrate professional nursing standards, the code of ethics, principles of servant-leadership, Benedictine values, and a liberal arts education into practice to advance the nursing profession.

Cooperating Clinical Agencies

Nursing students receive nursing practice experience in a variety of settings in addition to the classroom and laboratory. These settings include homes of clients, clinics, public health agencies, nursing homes, hospitals, special population agencies, schools, human service centers, community agencies, and childcare agencies.

Curriculum Pathways

Required nursing courses may be completed following the traditional, completion, or accelerated pathway.

The traditional pathway is designed for those who enter the Division of Nursing without formal nursing knowledge or skill. The completion pathway is designed for persons who have formal nursing knowledge and skills and are licensed either as an LPN or RN. LPNs and RNs may choose to take courses in either the traditional or a completion pathway. The Completion Pathway for LPNs combines distance learning with limited on-site instruction. The RN Completion Pathway is delivered totally online. The accelerated 2nd degree BSN pathway is designed for individuals who already have a baccalaureate degree in another discipline and is delivered on campus. The Nursing Academy is a selective track within our legacy nursing program. First-time, first-year freshmen are eligible. Students in the Nursing Academy follow a 2.6 year-round, tuition-free program of study.

Program Pathways:

Admissions

See program-specific admission policies on each of the undergraduate nursing program pages, linked above.

Immunization Requirements

Immunization requirements for health science programs are officially listed online in the student handbook (umary.edu/studenthandbook under Student Experience | University of Mary Health Clinic | Immunization Policy), along with the full immunization policy. These immunization requirements supersede and replace all other immunization requirements listed in previous editions of the academic catalog and/or health science program handbooks (printed or digital).

Programs

Undergraduate Major