At a meeting last Thursday, the Academic Council unanimously approved a School of Nursing proposal to add an accelerated bachelor's degree in nursing to its curriculum.
The program will be a four-semester, 16-month program that takes 40 students each fall, and will be open to applicants who already have a bachelor's degree in another area, said Mary Champagne, dean of the nursing school.
"Students now often go to college without knowing what they want to be," Champagne said. "[When they graduate], there is not a position for them.... [This nursing program] is the beginning of a career-long profession."
The program will be administered by the School of Nursing and will not affect the admission, financing or housing of undergraduates, Champagne said.
She cited increased demand for nurses, a growing shortage of personnel and long hours as reasons for adding the degree.
"It's unlike any shortages we've had in the past," she said. "Some beds we close, some patients we can't care for.... [Nurses] can't give you the kind of care you deserve when you're a patient," Champagne said.
She said the greatest demand for nurses is for those educated at the baccalaureate level, which she believes Duke can effectively educate.
"We're extremely excited about the kind of leaders this program will provide," said Susan Denman, assistant professor at the School of Nursing. "It will bode very well [for the University] to turn out these kinds of leaders."
IN OTHER NEWS: Provost Peter Lange presented the council with statistics about appointment, promotions and tenure decisions in his annual report on the process.
"There's nothing remarkable to report this year," Lange said. "I think the [APT] process is working fairly well."
The APT committee approved 16 out of 20 tenure candidates, and the provost approved another for what he called "institutional factors"--such as departmental need or leadership--that the committee cannot consider.
The APT committee approved 18 candidates for promotion to professor, of which the provost approved only 17. In line with new APT rules, Lange said he rejected one candidate because of "poor teaching performance and poor service, despite a strong research component."
The council also unanimously approved a measure that "accepts with regret" changes to the University's retirement health benefits that were presented at the council's November meeting and approved at this weekend's meeting of the Board of Trustees (see story, left).
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