UIC and UIS announce guaranteed pathway for undergraduates to earn UIC nursing degree

The University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Illinois Springfield are announcing the creation of a joint undergraduate nursing curriculum that, for the first time, will guarantee a spot for incoming freshmen in UIC’s highly ranked nursing program.

The agreement, which will begin in the fall of 2020, will allow a student who is interested in pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree to apply to the Springfield campus, or UIS, as a freshman. If accepted, the student would be guaranteed admission to the UIC College of Nursing BSN program on the Springfield regional campus when they achieve junior-level standing.

Under the initiative, dubbed UIS-UIC Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions, or UIS-UIC GPPA, first-time freshmen will have a guaranteed place in the UIC College of Nursing BSN program. The initiative will have similar requirements as UIC’s Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions (GPPA) program, which calls for more rigorous requirements for admission to specialized career pathways.

“It’s an opportunity for very competitive students to have this pathway guaranteed for them,” said Kevin Browne, vice provost for academic and enrollment services at UIC. “We guarantee admission to the BSN degree, which is a major threshold to enter the health care industry.”

If students are not accepted into the program as freshmen they still could apply to UIC’s BSN program as a junior or senior without the guaranteed acceptance.

“We’re elated to provide talented freshmen the security of knowing they have a spot in our highly-ranked program,” UIC College of Nursing Dean Terri Weaver said. “I hope that will make the UIS-UIC program the first choice of every high school senior in central and southern Illinois who wants to become a nurse.”

Since 2015 the UIC College of Nursing has had a home on the UIS campus, where students attend classes and receive hands-on experience working in medical facilities such as Memorial Medical Center in Springfield. Accepted students to the UIS-UIC Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions initiative, would be UIS students for the first two years and would transition to be UIC students for the last two years of their undergraduate studies while remaining on the UIS campus.

UIS interim chancellor Karen Whitney, who began July 1, said the partnership continues the great work being done by the universities.

“The Nursing program at UIS continues to be a valuable asset to the Central Illinois region,” Whitney said. “Our successful partnership with UIC with a guaranteed pathway for incoming freshmen encourages more students to pursue their degree at UIS, providing more highly qualified BSN graduates to meet the critical health-care needs in our community.”

The effort is designed to help increase the number of students in the program, said Cynthia Reese, director of the Springfield regional campus of the UIC College of Nursing. The hope also is to meet the need for more nurses.

“We’re a new program; we just graduated our third class this spring and we are still growing. We want to grow to make more of an impact on the health care of the residents of central Illinois,” Reese said. “There is a critical need for nurses in central Illinois, and we are trying to fill this gap.”

For more information please go to the UIS-UIC nursing webpage.

UIS partners with the UIC College of Nursing and Memorial Health System to launch BSN program

The University of Illinois Springfield is partnering with the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Nursing and Memorial Health System to offer students an opportunity to earn a UIC Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree on the Springfield campus.

“As Springfield’s medical district grows, there is a demand for additional highly qualified nurses in the area,” said UIS Chancellor Susan Koch. “This partnership will bring one of the top ranked schools for nursing in the country to Springfield, while helping to further boost undergraduate enrollment growth at UIS.”

The program can be completed in four years of full-time study and involves two phases: two years of pre-nursing and general education courses at UIS and two years of professional nursing courses, which will be delivered by UIC College of Nursing faculty at UIS. Admission to the professional phase of the BSN program requires recommendation of the UIC College of Nursing’s Admissions Committee after successful completion of the first-phase of coursework.

The addition of the Springfield Regional Campus of the University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing will help further expand its presence statewide. UIC currently has four regional campuses in Peoria, the Quad Cities, Rockford and Urbana. A full-time director will be employed to administer the program in Springfield.

“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 UIC College of Nursing Dean Terri Weaver.

The UIC College of Nursing is consistently ranked in the top 10 for nursing schools nationally and was recently awarded a #2 ranking in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The BSN program will be supported by a number of scholarships made available to UIS students by Memorial Health System.

“We are pleased to partner in this extraordinary initiative to increase educational opportunities for students to earn their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees within our own community,” said Ed Curtis, president and CEO of Memorial Health System.

“This is a solid fit with our mission to improve the health of the people and communities we serve.” Classes are scheduled to begin in August 2015 when the first group of UIS students enrolls as freshmen. Interested students are encouraged to apply to UIS now by visiting www.uis.edu/nursing/how-to-apply/.

The first cohort of nursing students starting upper division nursing courses will begin in fall of 2016. It is expected that 32 students will be admitted in fall 2016 and 48 students in fall 2017. Beginning of fall 2018, 64 students will be admitted with the first cohort completing their BSN degree program in May 2018. Additional information about the program can be found at www.uis.edu/nursing/.

For more information, contact Derek Schnapp, director of public relations at 217/206-6716 or dschn3@uis.edu.