LMU CELEBRATES NATIONAL NURSES WEEK

May 6, 2009 - Harrogate, Tennessee — Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) is celebrating National Nurses Week. May 6 -12, 2009, has been designated as National Nurses Week by the American Nurse Association (ANA). This year’s theme is “Nurses: Building a Healthy America.”

This is a week to take time out to thank nurses for what they do every day. With more than two million nurses in the United States, nurses represent the largest group of health care providers in America. Whether they are caring for patients in doctor’s offices, hospitals or in the face of crisis or disaster, nurses are vital to the well-being of the nation’s health care system.

For LMU, it comes on the heels of last weekend’s Spring Commencement, where the Caylor School of Nursing graduated 104 new nurses. Some of those students will return to LMU next year to continue their education while the majority will enter the workforce and help battle the growing nurse shortage.

Founded in 1897 as a living memorial to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, the University’s mission is to serve the Appalachian region by providing quality programs in higher education. LMU launched its nursing program in 1974, in part to fight the growing health care crisis across the region. The Appalachian region remains an underserved area today. Since the program’s inception, over 5,000 nursing graduates have joined the employment ranks and 68 percent of those graduates live and serve within 75 miles of the main campus.

Nursing is the largest undergraduate department at LMU. The nursing program is offered at the main campus in Harrogate and at three extended sites including Alcoa, Tenn., in conjunction with Blount Memorial Hospital; Knoxville, Tenn., at St. Mary’s Medical Center; and Corbin, Ky., at Baptist Regional Medical Center.

LMU currently offers degrees in two undergraduate nursing programs: the Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) and the Registered Nurse–Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN-BSN) program. The undergraduate nursing degree programs offered by LMU are approved by the Tennessee and Kentucky Boards of Nursing and are accredited by NLNAC, which is officially recognized as a national accrediting agency for nursing education by the Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Caylor School of Nursing launched its MSN degree program in August 2006 with a Family Nurse Practitioner concentration and its first class graduated in December 2007. LMU expanded the MSN program with a nurse anesthesia concentration in 2008.

Lincoln Memorial University is a values-based learning community dedicated to providing educational experiences in the liberal arts and professional studies. The main campus is located in Harrogate, Tennessee. For more information about the undergraduate and graduate programs available at LMU, contact the Office of Admissions at 423-869-6280 or e-mail at admissions@lmunet.edu.

CAPTION: ASN degree recipients participate in the traditional lighting ceremony during the Caylor School of Nursing and School of Allied Health Sciences Pinning Ceremony at LMU. Their lamps represent both the Lamp of Knowledge and the lantern carried by Florence Nightingale when she made nightly rounds to tend the wounded soldiers of the Crimean War.

<< previous page