Antoinette Hays Dean of School of Nursing & Health Professions Regis College

As Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions, I am very pleased to introduce you to the Regis College nursing programs.

Nursing at Regis College has a twenty-six year history of growth and achievement. Starting as a small RN to BS Upward Mobility degree completion program,  Regis Nursing is now comprised of 490 graduate students, 250 undergraduate baccalaureate students and 261 students enrolled through our Regis College/  Lawrence Memorial Collaborative Associates degree program.  Nursing students now represent the most rapidly growing student population at the College, in  part because the rich history of nursing here focused on student-centered education and the realization of a dynamic and interactive vision.

While the Regis College undergraduate nursing programs are committed to educate future nurses who will practice in hospitals, nursing homes, home care, and  in the community, the graduate and doctoral programs continue to build on the undergraduate foundation to prepare future nurse leaders, advanced practice  practitioners, and educators.  Over two thousand nurses have graduated from Regis College and have become leaders in practice, administration, academe, research and government.

Certain key themes – a commitment to cultural diversity, life long learning, empowerment, caring and dedication to a global health community – have brought Regis Nursing to its present recognition by the National League of Nursing as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education, the first in New England.

Commitment to Cultural Diversity 

• Undergraduate nursing at Regis enrolls many students from communities of color.  Some come from immigrant families, and many speak English as a second language.
• Regis College was awarded a $650,000 Nursing Workforce Diversity grant over three years from the federal Health Resources Administration (HRSA) for our program: “Success in Nursing Education (Project SINE).”  The purpose of Project SINE is to enhance the College’s ability to support academically  disadvantaged students throughout the process of obtaining baccalaureate degrees in nursing and becoming licensed registered nurses.  Project SINE also  seeks to improve students’ levels of cultural competence across all dimensions of the curriculum. 

Life Long Learning

• Regis College graduate programs in nursing strongly encourage and support nurses in various stages of their careers to pursue education from the associate degree through doctoral education  via multiple entry and exit points.
• The graduate nursing curriculum is offered full and part-time, on weekends and evenings, and in intensive and hybrid on-line formats to support the educational goals of working women and men  and to meet the individual learning needs of the students.
• Flexible course formatting and the faculty commitment to address adult learner needs make the Regis environment inherently adult-learner conscious.

Empowerment

• The leadership and faculty of the Regis nursing programs empower one another  to seek creative methods for delivering nursing knowledge.   Ever aware of  the needs of the practice arena, faculty pro-actively  step out of the box and modify, renew and create curricula and programs to meet the cutting edge  needs of the ever-changing health care system and growing complex patient population. 
• The graduate program in nursing offers Nursing Leadership, Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Specialist  options. Leadership students can sub-specialize in business management or health product regulation. Nurse Practitioner students can sub-specialize in family, pediatrics, adult psychiatry or women’s health, and the Clinical Specialist students specialize in acute care/critical care. 
• The entry-level master’s program for non-nurses is a three-year nurse practitioner program for women and men who hold a BA or BS in another field and want to enter nursing at the master’s level. Students in the entry- level master’s program earn both a BS and MS in nursing and may choose from any of the NP sub-specialties. Students are eligible to take the NCLEX exam after eighteen months and may work as a nurse while completing the master’s curriculum, thus cross-walking valuable practice experience with developing intellectual knowledge.
• In January, 2007, the nursing faculty implemented the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. The DNP equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary for excellence in advanced nursing practice as leaders and nurse educators.  The DNP is the first doctoral degree to be offered at Regis College, and the first DNP program to be implemented in Greater Boston, thus contributing mightily in our region to diminishing the nursing and nursing faculty shortages.

Caring and Dedication

• Locally, nationally and internationally, faculty and students alike offer dedicated care and service to others, especially the underserved. We participate in health fairs, give health classes to the campus preschool and kindergarten, serve on volunteer boards, volunteer in homeless shelters, assist in relief efforts for hurricane victims, and provide nursing care to the poor in Peru and Haiti.

United with the faculty of Regis College, I have the privilege of welcoming you to our School of Nursing and Health Professions. It is an honor to work with the dedicated professionals, the students, staff and alumni who have made Regis Nursing what it is today.  With you, Regis Nursing will celebrate many more firsts and continue to build on its history by meeting the educational demands of contemporary health care.  And we’ll do so together by maintaining student-centered academic and practice excellence coupled with compassion and gentleness.