LLUAHSC - Spring 2002 Newscope

Newscope

Denomination’s first PhD program in nursing offered at LLU

[SCOPE, Spring 2002]

Lois Van Cleve, PhD, RN, professor and associate dean of the graduate program, School of Nursing, assists Rutsiko Kinjo, a graduate student. The PhD graduate program in nursing is the first Adventist program of its kind.

Meeting in full session in October, the Loma Linda University Board of Trustees approved the first PhD graduate program in nursing in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.

“The Seventh-day Adventist Church, through its extensive education network, has various baccalaureate programs, but this is the first PhD program in nursing,” says W. Barton Rippon, PhD, dean, Graduate School.

The PhD graduate program in nursing, offered through the Graduate School, will promote the mission of LLU by preparing nurse leaders in teaching, research, and service from a wholeness perspective.

“The timing is right for this program. We will be reaching out for students throughout the world and develop a vision for Adventist nursing,” explains Helen E. King, PhD, RN, dean, School of Nursing. “It will not only serve Southern California applicants, but national and international applicants as well.”

In addition, the continuing shortage of adequately prepared nurse faculty in Adventist nursing education worldwide calls for a program to address this need. The PhD graduate program in nursing would assist with development of faculty in these nursing programs.

The program is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of knowledge development within the discipline of nursing through philosophical, theoretical, and scientific methods of inquiry. The core courses of the program emphasize these three areas. In addition to the core courses, program students are encouraged to select an individually focused area of concentration that will support the student’s area of expertise in nursing and will focus on her or his area of advanced inquiry.

The program, scheduled to begin in fall, 2002, will only accept six students every other year. It can be completed in 11 quarters of full-time study or may be extended in length to accommodate the part-time student.

[SCOPE, Spring 2002]