ENMU Successfully Launches Master of Nursing Degree

By Amy Archuleta and Robert Graham

Finding good nurses is a challenge nationwide. Even more critically, New Mexico faces an acute shortage of nursing instructors by 2020. To address this need, ENMU added a Master’s of Science in Nursing (MSN) program. The degree prepares graduates to teach associate and bachelor degree classes and to assume managerial roles in care facilities.

ENMU and UNM are the only schools in New Mexico that offer an MSN with an emphasis in nursing education. While ENMU’s MSN program fills national and state nursing needs, it will also help retain nurses in New Mexico. In the past, students have traveled to west Texas schools for degrees beyond a bachelor’s. Now, they can earn their degree online, at home, and without leaving their nursing jobs.

Ten inaugural students began the carefully sequenced 36-hour program this January. Entirely online, the MSN program allows nurses to complete the program within two years. The second cohort, an estimated 20 students, will begin the program January 2014.

ENMU had some help starting its MSN program from the New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium (NMNEC). NMNEC is an organization that supports programs designed to increase the number of nurses qualified nursing instructors in New Mexico. The MSN degree program at ENMU was accepted as a candidate for accreditation by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and is in up for full accreditation in spring 2014. By then, ENMU graduates will be training the next generation of nurses and improving healthcare for all New Mexicans.

For more information visit http://liberal-arts.enmu.edu/health/nursing/msn.shtml.