Three new doctorate level degrees offered at KSU

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For those interested: Three new doctorate-level degrees offered | The Sentinel

Ph.D-seeking students now have a choice of three programs at KSU: Nursing Science, Education in Leadership for Learning and Business Administration.

The most recent doctorate is the Doctorate of Nursing Science (D.N.S.), a research-based degree that focuses on nursing education, leadership and health disparities.

The program admitted its first class of students in August 2009.

The degree is targeted to working nursing professionals who want to advance in nursing practice, research or education.

“We hope our students will gain knowledge so that they can either move into different positions or go back to their position that they’re in and be able to function at a higher level,” said Dr. Tommie P. Nelms of the Wellstar School of Nursing. “Basically what doctoral students do in nursing in general is function as leaders. We hope that they will be leaders in helping with health disparities. We hope that they will be leaders in nursing education.”

The degree also addresses the nursing and nursing education shortages.

“We not only have a nursing shortage now, we have a nursing faculty shortage,” said Nelms. “[The program is] trying to get more people to become nurse educators so we in fact educate more nurses.”

The program currently has four students enrolled, all of whom must have a current license to practice professional nursing and a master’s degree in nursing to be admitted to the program.