After 70 years,
Adelphi’s School of Nursing gets rechristened
Seven decades ago in January 1943, 27 young women entered a 30-month war emergency course for New York State Registered Nurse certification at Adelphi College. 70 years later at what is now Adelphi University, the School of Nursing officially became the College of Nursing and Public Health on June 10.
In regard to the changing of the longtime School of Nursing, “it’s very timely,” says Dean Patrick Coonan. “Public health and nursing are becoming more connected. Nursing is moving to other places than just hospitals including the community and the home.”
The idea for the name change has been talked about for a little over a year because they felt the public health program was lost between the name and the school in general. A discussion with the university board of trustees, president, provost and faculty was needed to approve the name change to set it up as a new status.
“We decided on changing it from a school to a college because we now offer a complete package,” says Coonan. “There are three different levels of the program including a bachelor’s program, master’s program and PhD.”
According to Coonan, this puts Adelphi students of nursing in a unique position because less than a handful of colleges share the same program. Most of the time, these programs are usually kept separate.
“It offers a higher status and a broader base look at health care,” said Coonan.
For the more than 1,200 students enrolled in the program, the name change isn’t the only thing to be excited about. In the fall the University will begin working on its new Nexus Building and Welcome Center, which will serve as the College of Nursing and Public Health’s new home in September 2015.
The new building will almost double the size of the previous one by adding more nursing simulation laboratories, an ICU, as well as individual examination rooms. In addition to this, digital feedback will also be provided to multiple laboratories in the building.
“It’s really going to be state of the art,” says Coonan.
In addition to the literal construction of the growing college’s new home, the opportunity to study for degrees in the healthcare industry has also grown. For example, the nutrition master’s degree program is made for a professional who already has their bachelor’s or graduate degree. The new college offers this master’s degree as a fully online program and provides students with educated professionals to enhance the health of the population.
Experiential learning is also at the heart of the College of Nursing and Public Health. Students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in different cultures during study abroad initiatives in locations such as Peru, Costa Rica and Ecuador. Other opportunities such as serving on the American Indian reservation will allow students to benefit from gaining additional practical experience necessary to become a leader in their field.
The previous home of Alumnae Hall will become an office building and a brand new website for the school was launched on June 10 at nursing.adelphi.edu. In celebration of the 70 years of nursing at Adelphi, a special reunion was held on June 8 in the University Center Ballroom, which offered opportunities to network, reminisce and learn about the future of the new College of Nursing and Public Health.
“We have grown a lot in the last 10 years,” says Coonan. “We have added more programming and it is time to move forward. It’s not just about patients in hospitals anymore.”
