Another San Antonio university will offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) starting next fall after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges approved the degree for St. Mary’s University.
The approval was the final step after the Texas Board of Nursing unanimously provided initial approval of the St. Mary’s Nursing Program at its January meeting in Austin.
The first cohort is expected to enroll in fall 2024.
Winston Erevelles, who is slated to become the president of the private university on June 1, helped create the degree program.
“We now look forward to recruiting our inaugural nursing class,” he said in a statement. “Our nursing program will integrate a liberal arts education and Catholic and Marianist values with the skills, art and science of nursing.
“We anticipate working closely with the many clinical partners who have stepped up to be a part of this new initiative,” he added.
The program joins others in the region, including the Bachelor’s of Science Program at San Antonio College which was launched in 2020 and UT Health which launched a BSN in 2018.
The SAC program recently expanded to add a pathway for students from the San Antonio Independent School District.
The St. Mary’s program aims to address “a significant shortage of nurses in San Antonio,” as the field continues to grow, with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, projecting the employment of registered nurses growing 6% by 2032.
Donna M. Badowski, the vice dean of the St. Mary’s School of Science, Engineering and Technology and founding director of Nursing said the program will prepare nurses to enter the field directly after completing the program.
“Our program is dedicated to producing nursing graduates who exemplify the values of compassion and empathy, ensuring that they provide holistic care to their patients,” she said.
