With University President Pat Long recently taking office, Baker University’s School of Nursing is optimistic that plans for university improvement will coincide with its mission to provide well-qualified nurses for the future.
Dean of the SON Kathleen Harr said she was on the search committee for the new president, so she looked for someone whose vision would enrich the SON. Harr described the nursing profession as a very supply-and-demand field.
“As we move into the future, the demand for nurses will strip the supply,” Harr said.
Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in Topeka has been affiliated with Baker since 1991 and has been providing nursing education since 1894. Professor of Biology Darcy Russell serves as adviser to pre-nursing students and said Baldwin City is not a practical place for the two-year baccalaureate degree because it does not have the space or resources to house or educate the students.
The Pozez Education Center at Stormont-Vail is home to approximately 145 students, not just from Baker, but also from such four-year schools as the University of Kansas, Pittsburg State University and Kansas State University. A number of community colleges in the area are also affiliated with the health center.
Russell said Baker is Stormont-Vail’s primary feeder school.
“We send them excellent students ready to be trained as nurses for the state of Kansas.”
Harr said over the last three years, the SON has seen an increase in enrollment. This year, 142 students are enrolled, which averages out to about 35 students per class. With only 13 percent of nursing students being men, Harr said one of the SON’s goals is to attract more men, as well as minorities to the pre-nursing program on the Baldwin City campus.
Sophomore Larry Todd Westbrook said he was drawn to the pre-nursing program after being a boy scout, and his interest in the field grew in high school.
“I always wanted to pursue medical interests,” Westbrook said.
Baker and Stormont-Vail teamed up 15 years ago when the need for nurses to be academically well rounded was being pushed, Harr said. Baker provides pre-nursing students with a firm foundation in the liberal arts with emphasis in teamwork and critical thinking before students continue on to Stormont-Vail for specialized training.
Freshman Bree Barker said she has been around hospitals her whole life and pre-nursing just made sense for her. The eight weeks in every study of nursing gives the students a chance to know what field they would like to work in, and it makes the pre-nursing program at Baker amazing, Barker said.
“When you come out of it, you know you’ll be a really great nurse and really prepared,” Barker said.
Harr said the purchase of a $100,000 human simulator mannequin, well-structured classes and new facilities are a few of the plans to improve the future education for pre-nursing students.
“The human simulator will allow students the opportunity to respond to scenarios and give them a chance to practice procedures before they perform them on a real person,” Harr said.
Sophomore Alex Jennings said Baker’s SON has a really good reputation, and the teachers are nice and willing to help. The small class size allows for a lot of individual attention, she said; however, Jennings said the good reputation also leads to tough competition.
“A weakness is that (SON) is really competitive, and you have to have certain accolades,” Jennings said.
Harr said the SON education complements the Baker education well. The program encourages cooperation and communication between the science faculty, liberal arts faculty and the nursing faculty.
“The School of Nursing adds another choice and reason for students to come to Baker,” Harr said.
Nursing know-how
142 students from various four-year undergraduate programs enrolled for Fall 2006
Stormont-Vail Hospital has worked with Baker for 15 years87% of Baker’s nursing students are women
