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November 1, 2004
Emory, Agnes Scott to launch dual-degree nursing program

BY Amy Comeau

With the national nursing shortage expected to top 250,000 by 2010, the need to attract more students into the profession is a critical charge for nursing schools all over the country. In addition to expanding its enrollment by 20 percent this year, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing met this challenge head-on, seeking out a dual-degree partnership with Decatur’s Agnes Scott College to attract a new crop of students.

Nursing Dean Marla Salmon worked with Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt, Agnes Scott’s vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, to develop the recently signed program, which will enroll its first students next fall.

The program gives students the opportunity to earn both a bachelor of arts degree from Agnes Scott and a bachelor of science in nursing from Emory in five years.

“We are delighted to have formed this partnership with Agnes Scott, one of the leading women’s liberal arts colleges in the nation,” Salmon said. “The dual-degree program enables us to reach out to a whole other community of very smart and talented students who may not originally have considered nursing. The opportunity to bring in these student scholars, who have backgrounds in liberal arts, complements our vision for preparing the nursing leaders who will transform care.”

The distinctive “3/2” program is available to any student enrolled at Agnes Scott. Students must apply for the program within their first four semesters at Agnes Scott, where they would complete three years of a liberal arts education and then, upon meeting criteria including prerequisite classes and a minimum 3.0 GPA, would transfer to Emory to complete the BSN program in two years.

Zumwalt believes Agnes Scott students will seize the opportunity. “This program gives students interested in nursing the best both Agnes Scott and Emory have to offer: an exceptional foundation in the liberal arts and a degree in nursing from one of the most prominent programs in the United States,” Zumwalt said. “Agnes Scott women possess the self assurance and critical thinking skills required for success in any profession—and certainly mandatory in nursing.”

The 2004–05 academic year marks the beginning of what the schools expect to be a long and prosperous partnership fostering women’s education through liberal arts and health sciences. Zumwalt and Salmon said they anticipate enthusiastic response among both faculty and students and look forward to the first Agnes Scott enrollees arriving at Emory in the near future.

Located just outside downtown Decatur, Agnes Scott is a diverse and growing residential institution, exceeding 1,000 in enrollment this year for the first time in its 115-year history. For more information, visit www.agnesscott.edu.

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