St. Thomas University Creates STU College of Nursing and Two New Degrees

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Nov 20, 2024, 10:14 ET

STU's nursing program on track to become Florida's third-biggest after just seven years

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla., Nov. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Thomas University on Wednesday announced the creation of a new nursing college and two more advanced nursing degrees while projecting STU will soon become the third-largest nursing school in Florida.

STU's skyrocketing nursing enrollment, including 1,000 students just since the 2020-21 academic year, is spurring the university to launch the STU College of Nursing. Currently, the university's nursing programs are a part of STU's College of Health Sciences & Technology.

St. Thomas University is announcing the creation of the Center for Professional and Continuing Studies, six new certificate programs, and the hiring of decorated academic administrator Bruce Ozga as the Center's director. Ozga most recently served as vice president of culinary education at Helms College in Augusta and Macon, Ga. Previously, he spent nearly 24 years with Johnson & Wales University, where he rose to dean of culinary education and oversaw the university's Miami and Denver campuses.

A total of 1,600 students attend STU's nursing program, which the university only began in 2017 with 13 students. From 2004 to 2017, STU offered a 2+2 transfer program in which students completed their first two years of required nursing classes at St. Thomas before transferring to the University of Miami's nursing school.

By the fall 2025 semester, STU expects its nursing college enrollment will trail only the University of Central Florida College of Nursing and the Galen College of Nursing. STU's rising nursing student enrollment places the university on the frontlines of battling critical statewide and national nursing shortages.

Florida needs to hire 11,500 more RNs and 5,600 more LPNs – deficits the Florida Hospital Association projects will grow to 37,400 (a 12% shortage) for RNs and 21,700 LPNs (a 30% shortage) by 2035. Nationally, America's supply of nurses will fall short by 6% for RNs (207,980) and 36% for LPNs (302,440), the federal estimates show.

Exacerbating matters, research shows that 100,000 RNs left the field from 2020 to 2021 – the steepest decline in 40 years. Many of those who left the field were younger than age 35.

STU President David A. Armstrong, J.D., has prioritized growing the university's nursing program since taking office in the fall 2018 semester. At the start of the fall 2024 semester, Armstrong and STU's leadership team hired Nashat "Nash" Abualhaija, Ph.D., RN, to serve as dean of STU's soon-to-be-created nursing college.

"St. Thomas University is becoming one of Florida's top nursing schools because our education is rooted in teaching students to be caring, compassionate, ethical leaders," President Armstrong said. "The growth of STU's nursing school is a product of the people we produce – community caregivers who save lives and put patients and public service above all else."

STU's nursing school leader, Dean Nash, has spent 20-plus years in nurse and nurse leadership roles in clinical settings and nearly a decade in academia. Dean Nash served as an associate professor of nursing at the University of Texas Permian Basin, where he started several nursing programs from 2018 to 2022. Most recently, he led Hodges University's nursing program until last December.

Beyond enrollment growth, Dean Nash also is expanding the STU nursing school's programs. The nursing school is already rich in online educational options, making it convenient and easy for working professionals to advance their education.

STU will unveil a new online BSN to DNP degree track for the fall semester. The program, which is designed to help nurses become leaders, will allow students with a nursing bachelor's to complete a master's degree in nursing and a Doctor of Nursing Practice in just two and a half years.

STU also will soon launch an 18-month master of science in nursing with a nurse executive leadership track. The degree focuses on human resources, budgeting, and health-care outcomes to help recipients progress from nurse managers to directors or even chief nursing officers.

STU currently offers three undergraduate degrees to prepare students for nursing careers, including a bachelor's in natural science, a BSN in Nursing (RN to BSN track), and a BSN in Nursing (traditional track).

Plus, STU provides five graduate degrees, including an MSN-Accelerated Program, an MSN-Adult Gerontology NP, an MSN-Family Nursing Practitioner, an MSN-Psychiatric-Mental Health NP, and a DNP-Nursing, along with four post-master's degrees certificates for NPs to further their training.

About St. Thomas University
St. Thomas University (STU) is one of the South's premier Catholic universities. It is a private, nonprofit institution committed to fostering students' academic and professional success and helping them become ethical leaders in the global community. Rich with cultural and international diversity, STU is a Miami Archdiocesan university, the only archdiocesan university in Florida, and one of just 11 nationwide. Since President David A. Armstrong, J.D., took office in 2018, the university has set enrollment records annually, growing to 6,500 undergraduate, graduate, and dual enrollment students. The university's College of Health Sciences & Technology, College of Nursing, Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, Gus Machado College of Business, and Biscayne College for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences offer 61 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degree programs online and on the university's beautiful Miami Gardens campus. STU is currently leading a multi-year effort to make $123 million in improvements, its biggest expansion since its 1961 founding, including adding 400,000 square feet of new facilities, from a residence hall to athletic fields, a new business school, and other projects.

Contact: Dan Axelrod | St. Thomas University | [email protected] | 305.474.2418

SOURCE St. Thomas University