First Four Graduates Earn Bachelor's Degrees Through Online Completion Program at U of A

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Pegge Bell and Holly Van Winkle

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A University of Arkansas online nursing program produced its first four baccalaureate graduates this month, and the program’s enrollment is growing in response to a national demand for a more educated nursing workforce.

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing in the College of Education and Health Professions launched its online registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree-completion program in fall 2012 with 12 students. Enrollment is expected to increase to 70 by spring 2014.

The first four graduates of the online bachelor’s degree-completion program are Jennifer Breathitt of Fayetteville, Ashley Creek of Fayetteville, Lizabeth Phillips of Bella Vista and Paula Eaton of Jonesboro.

“I would recommend it,” said Creek, a nurse in the intensive care unit at Washington Regional Medical Center. “The program is challenging, but I know that having a bachelor’s in nursing is necessary to my career. It makes me more marketable.”

The Institute of Medicine, part of the U.S. National Academies, recommends that 80 percent of nurses have a bachelor’s degree by 2020, said Pegge Bell, director of the Mann School of Nursing. Provisions in the Affordable Care Act will base provider reimbursements on patient outcomes, driving more health care providers to seek better-educated nurses with experience in research and evidence-based practice.

“The R.N. to B.S.N. means advancement and opportunities for leadership,” Bell said.

The program is for any type of nurse, and all of the coursework is provided online so that students never have to come to the Fayetteville campus. The program is nationally accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

Eaton is a medical professions educator in a secondary school setting in Jonesboro and lives about four hours from Fayetteville. She said the online technology offered her everything she needed to earn her degree online.

“Online classes are not easy,” Eaton said. “You do have to be independent and very disciplined to do things on time and to meet deadlines.”

Creek had the option of entering a face-to-face program on campus, but she chose the online option instead.

“The online program offered me the flexibility to work full-time while being a student,” Creek said. “I think the quality is excellent.”

Eaton has never met her three fellow graduates, but she talked with them weekly on discussion boards related to her courses.

“Students who are in our online programs will still feel very connected to their faculty and feel a part of the university,” Bell said.

Students can fulfill their clinical requirements by completing project-based practicums in the areas where they live, said Holly Van Winkle, nursing program coordinator.

“The program works with you,” Creek said. “I’ve had plenty of help from the very beginning, all the way through.”

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing also offers online programs for nurses seeking master’s and doctoral degrees.

The University of Arkansas Global Campus supports the nursing school and other academic units in the development and delivery of online and distance education programs and courses. It provides instructional design services, access to national distance education organizations, and assistance with strategic academic program development and marketing.