When higher education and business leaders rallied this spring to announce Graduate Tampa Bay, a campaign to boost the number of local college graduates, a new USF College of Nursing program was among those cited for helping to elevate the region’s 21^st century workforce.

USF has launched a “first-of-its-kind”  RN-to-BS degree that provides an entirely online curriculum to assist nurses with obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

With a focus on clinical practice, education, and leadership, the College of Nursing’s online program allows students the flexibility to study and learn at a time and place that’s most convenient to them. The 30-credit program can be completed in three semesters if attending full-time, and costs less than $6,000. In spring 2012, the college enrolled 50 students in the program, and another 85 were enrolled this summer.

USF President Judy Genshaft,left, with USF nursing student Cheryl Combs at the Graduate Tampa Bay event in March 2012. – photo by Eric Younghans/USF Health Communications

“We’re really trying to prepare them for not only what they’re facing now, but what they’ll be facing in the next 20 years,” said Rita F. D’Aoust, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs and interprofessional initiatives at the USF College of Nursing.

Dr. D’Aoust was quoted in a recent article about the innovative curriculum posted by 83 Degrees Media. The story also included comments by Cheryl Combs, a home health nurse currently enrolled in the online program.

“I can tell I’m going to become a better nurse,”  Combs said in the article. “A lot of the projects they’re having us do are making me better at my profession.”

To read the full article, visit the 83 Degrees website at “USF Attracts Nurses To New Degree Program, Tampa.”