Marking a Milestone: First Nursing Program at SHU Marks 40 Years

Over the years, Department of Nursing expands to broad-scale college

In 1980, Sacred Heart University administrators and nursing leaders developed a new program focused on enhancing the educational and professional development of registered nurses practicing in the greater Bridgeport, CT, area. The goals for the RN-BSN completion program (as it was known within the Department of Nursing) were:

• To merge the knowledge and clinical skills nurses obtained from traditional, hospital-based nursing programs with a liberal arts education and collegiate-level nursing courses;
• To support the nursing profession’s belief that better-educated nurses provide better nursing care; and
• To reinforce the University’s mission to prepare men and women for service to the community.

During those early years, accomplished leaders such as doctors Norma Hanson, Martha Jayne, Mary Topalis and Mary Pat Lodge pursued significant enhancements to solidify and demonstrate the value of the RN-BSN program, leading to National League of Nursing accreditation in 1982.

Throughout the past 40 years, our small Department of Nursing successfully expanded and evolved into a broad-scale College of Nursing.  The name changed recently to the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & and Richard J. Henley College of Nursing in recognition of these two individuals’ generous endowment fund to support student scholarships, faculty research and program development. The scope of our nursing programs now spans everything from the first professional degree to the doctor of nursing practice and many other courses of study in between, including several certificate offerings. Enrollment in SHU’s nursing programs has grown exponentially over the years, from 12 full-time undergraduate nursing students in fall 1981 to 1,627 full-time undergraduate and graduate students.

So, it is no wonder that the very first nursing program that emerged from that small Department of Nursing recently ranked # 1 in the Northeast. Congratulations and Happy Anniversary to the RN-BSN Nursing Program!

Associate Professor Linda Strong talks with students during a nursing pinning ceremony.