Caldwell College and Mountainside Hospital Announce BSN Program

Future Nurses to Study at both Caldwell College & Mountainside

Mountainside Hospital (Montclair) and Caldwell College (Caldwell) have received final approvals to launch their partnership for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program. The New Jersey Board of Nursing and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education have approved the program.

Applications for the new undergraduate program are now being accepted for the fall 2010 entering class. Under the partnership, Caldwell College will offer a nursing degree for the first time in its history. Mountainside Hospital will serve as the primary site for teaching theory and clinical nursing through the Mountainside Hospital Center for Nursing Practice.

Caldwell College is providing admissions, student services and non-nursing degree requirements. Nursing faculty at Mountainside will teach courses in the theory and practice of nursing and clinical work will be performed at the hospital. Ngozi Nkongho, PhD, RN, CNE is the Director of the new BSN program and Administrator of the Mountainside Hospital Center for Nursing Practice.

“Caldwell College is delighted to be able to partner with Mountainside Hospital to offer the BSN degree. The hospital’s School of Nursing has a long history of offering a quality diploma program and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Mountainside Hospital by offering the BSN degree in collaboration with their Center for Nursing Practice,” said Paul Douillard, PhD Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs at Caldwell College. “We are fortunate to have on Caldwell’s faculty Sook Choi, RN, PhD, Director of Health Sciences at Caldwell College who will oversee the non-nursing curriculum which will be offered in the Caldwell College Natural and Physical Sciences department.”

“Throughout its 117-year history, our nursing school has distinguished itself as a premier educational institution and generations of our graduates have achieved success. This new partnership is consistent with our longstanding practice of proactively responding to emerging trends in the field of nursing,” said John A. Fromhold, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mountainside Hospital. “With evidence that BSN care improves patient outcomes and government initiatives that would make an undergraduate degree an expected educational standard for nurses under consideration, this partnership will provide incoming students with superior credentials upon graduation. This BSN program will provide an educational platform that prepares newcomers for the rigors of nursing in an increasingly challenging healthcare industry by emphasizing core communication, organizational and analytical capabilities in addition to exceptional clinical and technical expertise.”

Freshmen who are currently enrolled at the Mountainside Nursing School will be the last to graduate with nursing diplomas upon completion of their scheduled two-year program in May of 2011. “While this marks the start of a new era in our history, it also ensures that Mountainside’s tradition and reputation as an institution that prepares caring individuals for pivotal nursing roles will endure,” Fromhold said. “We are very excited about this proposed partnership. We look forward to working with our colleagues at Caldwell College to build one of the leading undergraduate nursing programs in our region.”

Founded in 1939 by the sisters of Saint Dominic, Caldwell College is a Catholic, co-ed, four year liberal arts institution, offering 28 undergraduate degrees and 20 graduate programs. The college is located on a beautiful 70-acre campus in suburban Caldwell, NJ. Caldwell College provides students with a supportive community, a student/faculty ratio of 13 to 1, excellence in teaching, and innovative learning environments. For further information about Caldwell College, visit www.caldwell.edu.

At Mountainside Hospital, world-class physicians treat a wide range of medical conditions using cutting-edge technologies. Patients have immediate access to innovative and effective treatment alternatives at specialized centers within the hospital that focus on women’s health, cancer care, weight loss, outpatient diagnostics, dialysis, and other needs. Mountainside Hospital has been serving community health needs since 1891. Today, the 365-bed private hospital delivers personalized care while also functioning as a learning center via its nursing school and residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine and dentistry. For more information about Mountainside Hospital, visit www.mountainsidenow.com.