The presidents, provosts and deans of East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) and Northampton Community College (NCC) celebrated the signing of an agreement yesterday that will finalize a new partnership that will fast track the completion of bachelor\u2019s degree programs in business administration and provide a Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) completion program option right on NCC\u2019s Bethlehem campus. Among those participating in yesterday\u2019s celebration were, from left: Joanne Bruno, J.D., ESU provost and vice president of academic affairs; L. Patrick Ross \u201967, chair, ESU Council of Trustees; Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D., president of ESU; Diane Jones, a 2015 graduate of NCC and senior nursing major at ESU; Mark Erickson, Ph.D., president of NCC; Robert Fehnel, chair, NCC Board of Trustees; and Carolyn Bortz, vice president for academic affairs at NCC.<\/p>\n
Finalization of this collaboration enables students in NCC\u2019s business administration program to earn both an associates degree in business administration from NCC and a bachelor\u2019s degree in business management from ESU in just three years by taking courses year-round. Each course meets for one three-hour block per week which will enable students to plan work and family commitments around their class schedules.<\/p>\n
The agreement also allows NCC students graduating from its registered nursing (RN) program to transfer seamlessly to ESU\u2019s Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) program, which will offer flexible evening part-time and full-time options for working nurses who need to meet the BSN requirement for employment. Students who begin the courses required for the bachelor\u2019s degree in the spring will be able to complete it in 18 months. All ESU courses are offered at the NCC Bethlehem campus.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe things that appealed to me about the RN to BSN program at ESU were many of the same things that originally led me to NCC,\u201d said Diane Jones, a resident of Bethlehem. \u201cThe classes are close to my home, and the schedule works with my family life.\u201d Jones was also proud to note that her studies and experiences recently landed her a nursing position with the Lehigh Valley Health System.<\/p>\n