Around
UNC
Public Hearing on Nursing Educator Shortage With U.S. Reps. Musgrave and Porter
November 22, 2005
- Media contact: Gloria Reynolds
- 970-351-1766 gloria.reynolds@unco.edu
U.S. Reps. Marilyn Musgrave and Jon Porter invite the public to a House Subcommittee on Select Education field hearing in Greeley to address the shortage of nursing educators. The hearing will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 30, at the University of Northern Colorado University Center, Panorama Room, intersection of 10th Avenue and 20th Street.
Musgrave and Porter believe Colorado’s collaborative approach to addressing the state’s nursing shortage may provide a national model. Central to Colorado’s approach is the nonprofit Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence, which helps create partnerships among universities, community colleges and health care organizations to develop and support the state’s nursing workforce.
The Nov. 30 hearing will focus on how a shortage of nursing faculty in higher education contributes to the national nursing shortage. The number of qualified nursing instructors has not kept pace with nurse education programs that are expanding to address the shortage, creating a bottleneck in the supply of nurses.
The hearing will include testimony from the following witnesses:
Sue Carparelli, President and CEO, Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence—The Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence works to create public awareness of the nursing workforce shortage, attract nurses to the profession and increase workforce retention.
Elise Lowe-Vaughn, Operations Director, Colorado Department of Labor Workforce Development Programs—The Department of Labor funded a two-year, $1 million initiative to develop nursing faculty and is part of a statewide workforce development initiative that includes a center where nursing faculty will hone their clinical teaching skills.
Lynn Dierker, R.N., Director for Community Initiatives, Colorado Health Institute—The Colorado Health Institute’s nursing education study found the shortage of qualified nursing faculty at Colorado’s two-year schools is three times the national average and nearly double the national average at four-year schools.
Kay Norton, President, University of Northern Colorado—UNC is working to establish the National Center for Nursing Education, which will offer graduate-level academic programs in nursing education and professional development opportunities for nurse educators and establish the National Nursing Education Resource Center.
