FYI: Hood to offer nursing degree - The Frederick News-Post Online

Hood College plans to offer a new bachelor's degree completion program in nursing, starting this fall.

The program was conceived in collaboration with Frederick Community College and Frederick Memorial Hospital. Registered nurses who already have an associate degree in nursing will be able to enroll.

The program was announced Friday by Hood President Ronald J. Volpe, FCC President Carol W. Eaton and Thomas A. Kleinhanzl, president and CEO of FMH.

Hood is seeking formal approval for the program from the Maryland Board of Nursing, the Maryland Higher Education Commission, and accreditation from the National League for Nursing and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

The new degree will complement the nursing program at Frederick Community College, which offers an associate degree in nursing.
Students will work through the curriculum in groups, from start to finish.

The program will extend over four or five regular semesters and two summer sessions, with 15 to 20 students enrolled in a class; classes may be smaller when practical. Most courses will be taught on the Hood campus, adjacent to FMH. Laboratory courses may be taught at the hospital or, during summer sessions, at FCC.

The hospital will continue to provide scholarship opportunities to the nurses employed, said Rod Matheson, director of training and organization development at FMH.

Students in the program will be required to earn 120 credits -- including credit and work done before enrolling in the program -- in order to earn a Hood College degree. At least 30 of these credits must be earned at Hood.

This is not Hood's first nursing program. Between 1943 and 1962, 87 students earned nursing degrees in a collaborative program between Hood and nursing programs at places such as Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins University.