Georgia Southern University Helping Meet Need for Army Nurses

June 28, 2010

Two of Georgia Southern University’s most competitive and successful programs — the School of Nursing and Army ROTC — are teaming up to meet the United States Army’s need for nurses.

“It is not every day that two nationally-ranked groups can come together for a common cause to produce the best nurses for our nation along with the best Army officers for our nation,” said Lt. Col. George Fredrick, Commander of Eagle Battalion. U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Georgia Southern’s School of Nursing among the top 25 percent in the country, while the University’s ROTC program was recently recognized as one of the top eight Army ROTC programs in the nation.

Georgia Southern’s ROTC program currently has 32 nursing students among its 270 cadets. According to Fredrick, the University produces more Army ROTC nurses than any of the other 38 ROTC programs in the 6th Brigade, which includes schools in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Seven Georgia Southern ROTC nursing students graduated this year and eight graduated the year before, well above the Army’s requirement of two graduates per year for most ROTC programs at universities that have nursing schools. Army nurses commit to eight years active-duty military service, eight years in the Army Reserve or four years of each.

“Georgia Southern University’s School of Nursing has been very fortunate to have graduated an exceptionally large number of highly-qualified ROTC nursing students and is very honored to have prepared them for extraordinary careers in the military. Not only do these graduates help reduce the country’s unprecedented shortage of nurses, but, as commissioned officers, they also serve the healthcare needs of our country’s armed forces with distinction,” said Jean Bartels, Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences.

“The School of Nursing and the ROTC program are fortunate to have the best and the most caring instructors you can find. Therefore, a partnership was formed and cultivated, has matured and is poised to continue excellence for the foreseeable future,” Fredrick said.

As an incentive, the Army offers scholarships to qualified nursing students. Fredrick said that typically every nursing major in the Georgia Southern ROTC program is on a scholarship.

“Our best credential is the cadets who are in the nursing program and have graduated from the nursing program,” Fredrick said. ‘They set the example and others see that and they just keep coming to be part of the ROTC program.”

Georgia Southern University, a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University, offers 115 degree programs serving 19,000 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. The University, one of Georgia’s largest, is a top choice of Georgia’s HOPE scholars and is recognized for its student-centered approach to education. Visit: www.georgiasouthern.edu.