In a bold and visionary move, Westmont College plans to launch a nursing program at its new downtown Santa Barbara campus.
In partnership with Cottage Health, Westmont has targeted the spring of 2022 to kick of the program at 26 West Anapamu St., a building it recently purchased.
“We are delighted,” Westmont President Gayle Beebe told Noozhawk. “To be able to start a program downtown that really brings the college right into the midst of the central business district is incredibly meaningful.”
The program comes at a time when nurses and the nursing industry are at the center of the fight against COVID-19, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates a shortage of 44,000 California nurses by 2030.
The new nursing program will help address the critical shortage of skilled nurses in Santa Barbara and throughout the region.
“It is just amazing to see the shortage of nursing in the State of California and nationally, and to recognize in this global pandemic that nurses are delivering essential health care,” Beebe said.
The new nursing program, Beebe said, will offer an accelerated bachelor of science degree in nursing for students who already have a bachelor’s degree.
“Our rigorous academic environment educates the whole person, developing competent, compassionate graduates well-suited to work in cross-cultural settings,” Beebe said of Westmont College’s liberal arts offerings.
“We are incredibly grateful for Dave and Anna Grotenhuis and Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree, whose timely gifts have helped us make this building a permanent extension of Westmont in the heart of Santa Barbara.”
Westmont will renovate the bottom two floors of the building to create a state-of-the-art facility designed to support the intense, team-based learning of an accelerated program, college spokesman Scott Craig said.
“The convenient location, a mile from Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, will provide students with easy access to the simulation lab, internships and practica,” Craig said.
Beebe said that expanding into nursing is a natural extension for the college, because it will offer an additional path for students who get degrees in kinesiology.
Cottage Health’s offer to partner with Westmont made the timing perfect.
“Cottage has so much access to data,” Beebe said. “To have them in our community and have the opportunity to partner with them to benefit the students and our community is just a huge win. It is a combination of factors and all of them really mattered to us.”
Westmont plans to use a cohort-based model with 24 students per cohort, and two cohorts per year. The program is in the final stages of approval from the state, Beebe said.
“Santa Barbara is fortunate to have this additional option for becoming a registered nurse,” said Herb Geary, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Cottage Health.
“We have been working with Westmont to offer clinical sites for training at Cottage Health facilities when the program begins. The accelerated nachelor’s to BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) program is a rigorous program that allows students with undergraduate degrees to complete a BSN program in 12 months. Currently this is the only local option for students looking for a program like this, and it’s really a gift to our community. We look forward to working with the Westmont nursing students.”
The Westmont Downtown building, at 26 W. Anapamu St., will continue to house the five centers that have occupied the top two floors since 2015: the Center for Applied Technology (CATLab), the Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Westmont Center for Dialogue and Deliberation, Westmont Decision Lab, and Westmont Hub (WestHUB).
“Our vision for the program is strongly rooted in our liberal arts mission,” Westmont Provost Mark Sargent said. “Along with technical training in nursing skills, the curriculum will address significant philosophical and social issues about public health and compassionate care, equip students with qualitative and quantitative research skills, and provide multiple opportunities for cross-cultural engagement and reflection.”
“The program will offer our graduates the opportunity to build on their liberal arts degrees and to become more thoroughly engaged with the local community.”
Sargent said the program will complement the existing nursing programs in the South Coast, including the Santa Barbara City College School of Nursing, which includes a two-year registered nurse program, and the Santa Barbara City College and the nursing program at CSU Channel Islands which includes a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
“The need for highly trained nurses able to care for a diverse population has never been greater,” Sargent says.
The Westmont program “has the potential to graduate highly sought nurses from a learning environment that encourages servant leadership, while developing compassion and empathy.”
Michael Holliday principal architect for the project added: “We are excited to see Westmont expand their occupancy of this significant downtown building. After assisting Westmont with the design and build out of their very successful Center for Social Innovation on the third floor several years ago, the complete renovation and repurposing of the first and second floors will compliment and enhance the third floor interior improvements. Westmont is one of our community’s leading educational institutions, and this significant investment in downtown Santa Barbara helps to expand their influence and relevance within the much needed field of nursing education.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
