Nursing Joins Pharmaceutical Sciences and Public Health as New Degree Programs in College of Health Sciences

California is in the midst of a critical nursing shortage, and the University of California, Irvine will be helping to provide a solution.

This fall, a new program in nursing science established in the College of Health Sciences will enroll an initial class of 25 freshmen and 25 sophomores in a pre-nursing curriculum, as they begin work toward the first four-year baccalaureate degree program in nursing ever offered in Orange County.

Along with nursing science, the College of Health Sciences has established new undergraduate degree programs in public health and pharmaceutical sciences. Graduates from these three programs will help fill the growing number of health-care related jobs in the state.

Created with assistance from the state of California and local health care organizations, the program in nursing science is designed to offer both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Upper-division nursing science courses are scheduled to commence in 2007, and the graduate programs are in development. The program is expected to be home to 325 students and 40 faculty members.

"The demand for quality nursing programs in California puts UCI in a unique position to establish and sustain a program of nursing science," said Michael R. Gottfredson, executive vice chancellor and provost. "Combined with our new programs in public health and pharmaceutical sciences, UCI will be making a new and significant contribution toward meeting the health care needs in the state."

The nursing program comes at a time when the state's health care system is in dire need of qualified nurses. The California Strategic Planning Committee for Nursing estimated that the state is expected to require an additional 25,000 registered nurses by 2010, with a particular need for those with baccalaureate and graduate degrees. In Orange County alone, some 1,200 students are on nursing school waiting lists.

"I am really excited about this new program," said Ruth Ann Terry, executive officer of the California Board of Registered Nursing in Sacramento. "UCI's bachelor's program will address the current nursing shortage, and its proposed graduate programs will improve the quality of nursing education and research. It's an example of a nursing science program meeting all of our needs."

About the program in nursing science

The UCI program is the third in the University of California system, joining nursing schools at UC San Francisco and UCLA. The undergraduate and graduate curricula in nursing science will provide academic and professional education consisting of coursework in biological, social, behavioral and biomedical sciences.

The program will prepare graduates for basic clinical and advanced practice roles, as well as for educational, administrative and research positions both in the health care industry and at academic institutions. It will promote outstanding research within nursing science subspecialties and related areas. The Bachelor of Science degree program has received initial approval by the educational/licensing committee of the California Board of Registered Nursing. The board is expected to endorse this approval at their Sept. 15 meeting. A program director is under recruitment.

New programs in public health and pharmaceutical sciences

UCI is offering two undergraduate degrees in public health, which will train students in the recognition of emerging threats to public health in the coming decades, including those associated with global environmental change, bioterrorism and exponential increase in human population. A bachelor of arts is being offered in public health policy, which will emphasize study in social and behavioral health sciences and in health science administration and management. The bachelor of sciences program in public health sciences will focus on natural sciences research in areas such as infectious diseases, environmental and global health sciences, and epidemiology and biostatistics. The degree programs are a first step toward a School of Public Health.

The bachelor's degree program in pharmaceutical sciences is designed to allow students to follow career paths in pharmacy and the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, or to pursue graduate study. With coursework drawn from the biological sciences, chemistry and pharmacology, the program will help students develop diverse skills, spanning the spectrum from drug discovery through formulation, clinical trials, marketing, regulatory affairs and pharmacotherapy. Master's and doctoral degree programs in pharmaceutical sciences are still under development.

For more information about the College of Health Sciences, go to www.cohs.uci.edu.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.

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