The CU Center for Professional Development in the Health Sciences will open in January in the Shiloh Shopping Center on Lebanon Pike in Mt. Juliet, Cumberland President Dr. Harvill Eaton said.
The location will be convenient for people who live in the western portion of Wilson County and the eastern part of Davidson County.
During the planning stages, the university had hoped that the program would be attractive enough to bring in a class of 25 students. However, so many people have expressed an interest in the program that Eaton anticipates at least 50 in the first class.
"We're not trying to duplicate what we do or what other places do in terms of offering day classes for 19-22-year-olds. This will be nights and weekends for the working adults," Eaton said.
"Nurses are in such incredible demand. There are only a certain number of seats available at all of the nursing schools around the area. We decided to look at evenings and weekends, and in particular, who that would be attractive for," he said.
School eyes expansionThe school has partnered with Mt. Juliet-based Environmental Sciences Corporation to give anatomy/physiology and microbiology students access to state-of-the-art laboratories.
"You will find no better labs anywhere in the country," Eaton said.
"Often times, students who would otherwise be ready to enter the BSN completion program have not completed prerequisite courses in microbiology and/or human anatomy and physiology," Dr. Carole Ann Bach, dean of the Jeanette C. Rudy School of Nursing at CU said in a written statement. "Thanks to our partnership with ESC, those students who enroll in the BSN completion program but have not completed those prerequisites will be able to take those laboratory-intensive courses under the instruction of CU faculty in ESC's cutting-edge laboratories."
ESC is not charging the school for the partnership, Eaton said.
"They (ESC) want to see growth in Mt. Juliet. This is company-to-company help. We feel like we're helping Mt Juliet. And Environmental Sciences is doing this through sheer generosity.
"Peter Shulert is on my list of great guys," Eaton said about ESC's chief executive officer.
While the program will start out offering a bachelor of science in nursing, Eaton looks with an eye toward the future at expanding to offer more health care-related programs.
"It's partnerships like the one between Cumberland and Environmental Sciences Corporation that will ensure the University continues to extend quality professional development opportunities to the broader community," Eaton said in a written statement. "As our new health sciences initiative evolves, we'll continue to research other ways in which the University may continue to serve the community and its people."
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