State Grant Assists SUNY Delhi Nursing Degree Innovation

DELHI, NY (01/17/2015)(readMedia)-- The SUNY Delhi School of Nursing has been named a partner in a $300,000 two-year grant awarded to New York State from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in support of building a more highly educated nursing workforce. The grant will assist the college's innovative dual degree in nursing, which allows qualified students the opportunity to earn two nursing degrees in four years.

"Delhi's four-year dual degree program is specially designed to address the need for baccalaureate-prepared nurses in New York State," said Dr. Mary Pat Lewis, dean and professor of SUNY Delhi's School of Nursing. "It allows a seamless and efficient path for nurses to pursue a BSN and addresses the demand for a more educated nursing workforce."

SUNY Delhi is the first in New York State to offer a nursing dual degree that combines the delivery of an associate degree nursing program on campus with an online BSN curriculum. The program addresses The Institute of Medicine's report that recommends nursing education programs increase the number of RNs with bachelor-level degrees in the United States from 50 percent to 80 percent by 2020.

The college's Master of Science in Nursing Education (MSN) is another Delhi strategy in addressing the nursing shortage. It is designed to help address a critical shortage of nurse educators in New York State and across the nation and is delivered entirely online, bringing affordable, accessible, high-quality graduate education to nurses.

For 70 years, SUNY Delhi has been recognized as a leader in innovative nursing education. Its School of Nursing is growing at an unprecedented pace, thanks to the launch of an online RN to BSN degree in 2008. The first degree of its kind and offered totally online, it has grown to almost 800 students and is affiliated with nearly 220 clinical sites and about 900 preceptors.

Delhi's online RN to BSN degree has earned state and national recognition. The online program was instrumental in SUNY Delhi being named a national leader in online baccalaureate degree education by U.S. News and World Report. Delhi's ADN and RN to BSN programs are accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC).

For more information about SUNY Delhi's nursing programs, contact Misty Fields in Enrollment Services at 607-746-4546.