Virginia Wesleyan University is partnering with the Sentara Nursing program for students who want to go into the medical field and study Nursing Science. Wesleyan and Sentara have a partnership program that will consist of a bachelor’s degree in Nursing Science.
Virginia Wesleyan currently offers several preparatory medical programs for students to take, including pre-professional tracks in pre-nursing/allied health, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, art therapy and counseling. VWU has an articulation agreement with Sentara College of Health Sciences.
This agreement means that students may be guaranteed admission to Sentara’s Master’s Entry to Nursing Practice (MENP) program, and a Joint Program in Medicine and an Early Assurance Program with Eastern Virginia Medical School. There will be 10 slots offered and guaranteed on a competitive basis to students who meet defined admission standards for the program and any additional applicants after the 10 slots are filled will still be considered.
Founded as the first Nursing Program in Norfolk, Sentara College of Health Sciences has grown and advanced over its 127-year history to bring students the best in Healthcare education. The college’s connection to Sentara Healthcare allows students to learn from expert clinicians in world-class healthcare centers.
President Miller stated that, “three years ago, Howard and I initiated a conversation about the possibilities of a Premier institution of the libral arts and sciences and a health sciences institution combining to offer students from this area an opportunity to earn a degree from both institution and so after three years of planning we then came to an agreement on what would be the basic format for a joint Bachelor’s degree in nursing and Bachelor of Science nursing degree that will bear the name of Virginia Wesleyan University and Sentara College of Health Sciences.”
“The concept of it all centers around that there are many traditional students that wanna go to an institution like Virginia Wesleyan University where they can live in the residents halls eat in the cafeteria participate in students activities and still pursue a professional degree in nursing. Sentara colleges in the past have primarily served an adult population, they have no dormitories, they have a campus that is several exits up from here on Interstate 64 and so the combination of these two factors, Virginia Wesleyan having premarital reputation in the sciences, and Sentara having an outstanding bachelor of science nursing program, that the two institutions come together and attract top talent to this area that would want degrees from both institutions in an area that is pretty hot in the job market right now,” Miller stated.
“So students could come here and instentully take most of their non-nursing classes from Virginia Wesleyan and continue to live here on our campus and be concurrently enrolled while taking their nursing classes from Sentara College of Health Sciences,” President Miller stated.
A signing ceremony with Sentara College of Health and Sciences took place Feb. 7 in President Miller’s office. In this ceremony, Virginia Wesleyan’s President Scott D. Miller and Sentara College of Health Sciences president Dr. Angela Taylor signed an agreement formalizing the institution’s commitment to pursue a joint Bachelor of Science in nursing degree program.
Basically, this signing was the start of moving forward in the partnership. In this signing, a few words were gathered from Dr. Angela Taylor at the end of the ceremony. Dr. Angela stated that, “Virginia Wesleyan students will now be joining Sentara students!”
In this meeting there was a lot of excitement about what the future holds for this partnership and with both colleges combining students passionate about Nursing sciences. There were also many other Faculty members from both sides who had involvement in this Program as well who were all very nice and excited to see how this program will benefit the students.
Going into the Sentara Nursing program there is a lot to expect. Students going into this medical field, this would be a program that could set up a not only hands on training but give more of a college life opportunity as well as a professional Nursing degree. You can get the best of both words with this program. Students can take regular classes at a college they can stay at as well as Professional Nursing classes at a college only a few exits up.
Kimberly DeHart
kmdehart@vwu.edu
