Date/Time
Date(s) - 03/03/2014
6:00 pm
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The School of Nursing is pleased to announce that Joe Heidrick, MSN, RN, has assumed the role of Chair of the School. Heidrick replaces Patricia McIntire, FNP, MSN, RN, who had served as chair of the School since 1995.
Heidrick stated he is looking forward to continuing all the work and achievements in the school that have taken place under McIntire. “She has done an incredible amount of work and has made sure that the School of Nursing is well represented in the state with an excellent reputation”, Heidrick said. “I hope I can do that as well.”
The School of Nursing is in the process of reaccreditation for the Associate Degree Nursing Program. The process has involved the entire faculty completing a Self-Study document. In October, the School hosted a site visit for a team from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), formerly the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC). The Site Visit Team report recommended eight years of continuing accreditation. It identified areas needing continued work and a report in two years. The site visit was reviewed January 27 by a panel of nurse educators in Atlanta. The Review Panel concurred with the site visitors and recommended continuing accreditation for 8 years. Their recommendations and report will be forwarded to the Board of Commissioners, which meets in March. The School will be able to make a formal announcement of the results of the process in March or April.
ACEN accreditation is a non-governmental peer review process that operates in accordance with nationally recognized standards. Accreditation holds nursing programs accountable to the community of interest – the nursing profession, consumers, employers, higher education, students and their families, and to one another for meeting those standards.
The faculty of the School of Nursing wishes to thank the community (university faculty, community agencies, nurses, students and families) for all the support during the accreditation process.
Another opportunity for the School of Nursing is adopting the state-wide nursing Bachelor of Science curriculum through the New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium slated for 2015. This represents the continued growth of the program and a step forward in preparing nurses for the 21st century.