New UIC bachelor’s in nursing at Springfield campus

The College of Nursing will partner with the University of Illinois at Springfield and Memorial Health Systems to offer a bachelor’s degree in nursing on the downstate campus.

The initial class of pre-nursing students will be enrolled next August and the first degrees will be awarded in May 2018.

Springfield becomes the College of Nursing’s fifth regional campus, joining Peoria, the Quad Cities, Rockford and Urbana.

“This Springfield partnership — between a nursing college ranked second nationally in National Institutes of Health funding, a health system with two Magnet-designated hospitals, and a university whose Capital Scholars honors program is recognized for generating incredible leaders — will produce academically strong, critically thinking nurses, practitioners and midwives that will meet the health care needs of the people of central and southern Illinois,” said College of Nursing dean Terri Weaver.

Students will complete the four-year program in two phases. Freshmen and sophomores will take pre-nursing and general education courses at UIS, and juniors and seniors will complete professional nursing courses taught by UIC nursing faculty at the Springfield campus.

The first students in the upper-division nursing courses will begin in fall 2016. College officials expect 32 students in the first upper-division class, 48 students the next year and 64 by fall 2018.

Graduate UIC nursing programs will also be available at UIS, with admissions beginning next spring for fall enrollment.

The partnership “could not have come at a better time,” said UIS chancellor Susan Koch, adding that the growth of Springfield’s medical district means a demand for more highly qualified nurses.

“We are bringing one of the top-ranked schools of nursing in the country to Springfield, while helping to further boost undergraduate enrollment growth at UIS,” she said. “We’re extremely excited to begin this partnership.”

The program will offer several scholarships from Memorial Health Systems.