Investments in both faculty and infrastructure for Emporia State’s Department of Nursing will benefit current and future students as well as supply much-needed, highly trained nurses for the state of Kansas.

The department will offer two additional programs:

• RN to BSN, an online program for those already working as registered nurses who want to add a bachelor’s degree in nursing; and
• MSN, an online master of science in nursing program.

Three faculty positions will be added to the department to meet the demand of all programs offered by the department. Emporia State University is finalizing plans to move the program to the academic campus in fall 2025.

in 2022, the ESU nursing program could accept up to a total of 100 undergraduate students each year in two cohorts. These students graduate with a bachelor of science degree in nursing (BSN) and will be registered nurses after passing a national licensing examination. Graduates of Emporia State’s BSN program show a 92% average first-time passage rate on the NCLEX exam over the last five years, compared to 85.6% for the state of Kansas and 86.5% nationally.

Emporia State received $5 million from the State of Kansas for the move from the Newman Regional Health campus in Emporia onto the academic university campus. The ESU Foundation will also be a critical partner as the university moves toward funding the construction of a new, best-in-class space.

Originally, that move was anticipated into a vacant residence hall on campus that would be renovated. Additional research with nursing faculty and partnering architects moved the university to pursue a new building instead.

According to Cathy Pimple, Newman Regional Health chief administrative officer, registered nurse positions in Kansas comprise the majority of job postings in health care, with 46 days the average amount of time to fill a vacancy.

Newman Regional Health is one of many hospitals of all sizes with clinical relationships with ESU. Others include the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas; Wesley Medical Center in Wichita and Stormont Vail in Topeka.