FYI: MVC Board of Trustees votes to begin nursing program - Boonville, MO - Boonville Daily News

Boonville, Mo. - The following is a brief of the full story. For the full version, see Thursday's print edition of the Boonville Daily News.

Marshall, Mo. – The Missouri Valley College Board of Trustees recently voted to establish a School of Nursing and Health Sciences. A bachelor’s of science in nursing degree program is slated to begin in Fall 2009. The application process for the program begins immediately.

“This is the culmination of three years of work by the allied health committee, which was led by Dr. Karla Bruntzel,” said Dr. Bonnie Humphrey, MVC president. “It’s an exciting and momentous decision by the Board of Trustees to put Missouri Valley in a very positive position. Implementing new academic programs at Missouri Valley creates great opportunities for not only the college, but for Marshall and surrounding communities as well.”

The college is currently in the selection process for a nursing education program director.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by the year 2020, the U.S. nursing shortage will grow to around 800,000. Nursing is also one of the occupations with the largest expected job growth from 2002 to 2012.

Currently Missouri is experiencing a 9.5 percent nursing shortage and this is expected to increase three-fold by 2020 following national trends. In rural areas of Missouri, the nursing shortages are as high as 17 percent.