This year’s homecoming weekend celebrates many University milestones, including the 60th anniversary of the School of Nursing and Health Professionals, which is currently planning for a larger future.
Ruth E. Cole was the leader of starting a baccalaureate educational program in nursing at Murray State in 1964. Cole directed the nursing program for 23 years and also served in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corp prior to the end of World War II and during the Korean War. Since then, the nursing department has continued to make history.
Dina Byers, dean of the School of Nursing, said without Cole’s forward thinking, the department would not exist today.
“This success provided the foundation to begin programs such as the Clinical Nurse Specialist and Family Nurse Practitioner programs,” Byers said. “There have been so many achievements by students and faculty over the past 60 years.”
Some of the most recent achievements include the development of the Doctor of Nursing Program (DNP), which is the first doctoral program instituted at Murray State. The school received $3.5 million in federal funding to support the bachelor of science in nursing program. The BSN program has graduated 2,673 students since 1968.
Not only is the University enhancing educational opportunities, but also upgrading the equipment used for education. The department of nursing and health professionals is currently located in Mason Hall and will soon be located next to Faculty Hall as construction for a new nursing building is underway. The new school is scheduled to open spring semester of 2026.
Michael Perlow, professor of nursing, said this newly constructed school will greatly benefit future students.
“The new nursing school conveys to us that the school is trusted to carry on the traditions that were begun by Ruth Cole and carried forward by countless faculty,” Perlow said. “In addition, this building will give us tools to improve and expand the program as we move forward.”
The milestone celebration will be an open house featuring brunch at 10 a.m. until noon Oct. 19 at Mason Hall.
