JBU Announces First Step Towards Nursing Program

John Brown University has taken the first step towards creating a new nursing program for undergraduates.

School officials said Thursday that unanimous approval had been received earlier this week from the Arkansas State Board of Nursing in Little Rock, the first of three steps required of new nursing programs.

The school’s nursing program will offer a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree. With the prerequisite approval received, JBU can now advertise the program and begin recruiting pre-nursing students for the Fall 2014 semester.

“Prospective students ask about nursing more than any other major not currently offered at JBU,” school president Chip Pollard said in a news release. “Moreover, there is a critical need for BSN-trained nurses in Arkansas and throughout our region.”

After completing the next step in the process, initial approval, JBU could begin admitting students into its nursing program as early as the Fall 2016 semester. Final approval of the program must be obtained before graduating the first class of nursing majors.

The pre-nursing curriculum usually takes two years to complete and is required before a JBU student could be admitted into a JBU nursing program as a junior.

Assuming the school completes the next step of the approval process, by the time the first pre-nursing students complete their sophomore year, the nursing program will be ready to admit its first students.

Completing the pre-nursing phase and the nursing program is expected to take, on average, about four years, according to the news release.