The Mississippi College School of Nursing has achieved another milestone in the history of the University!  The May 1996 graduating class surpassed both the state and national averages by having a 100 percent passing rate on the National Council Licensure Examination.  Since its inception, the School of Nursing has produced a total of 776 graduates.  Each has successfully applied for and received licensure, 775 as registered nurses, one as a licensed practical nurse.  This incredible success story began in the early seventies.

On May 20, 1973, the School of Nursing graduated 17 generic students.  Accreditation from the Mississippi Board of Institutions of Higher Learning and the National League for Nursing soon followed and has been maintained ever since.

A product of MC's School of Nursing, Dr. Mary Jean Padgett (73), is now its dean.  She has seen firsthand the steady growth that has helped to make the program strong since 1969.  "The student body has grown from the initial thirty students to a current enrollment of approximately 300.  More than half of those students have been accepted into the nursing curriculum," said Padgett. With the sustained interest in the generic nursing program, the School was prompted to increase the number of students accepted to an all-time high of 79 for the 1995-96 school year.  "The School of Nursing continues to have more applicants than space available.  We currently have 18 full-time faculty members and our objective is to continue to have a low faculty-to-student ratio," said Padget.

In the fall 1995 session the curriculum was reorganized to accommodate biannual admission.  'This reorganized curriculum is more responsive to the current and future trends in nursing and eliminates the teaching of any nursing content to students who have not yet been accepted into the nursing program," said Padgett. "A reorganized curriculum for the RN to B.S.N. students began in the summer 1996, and is anticipated to grow rapidly to meet the demands of the health care delivery system for baccalaureate and degree nurses."

One emphasis that has not changed is the school's focus on Christian caring as a major component of professional nursing.  Spiritual care permeates the entire school through both the curriculum and activities involving clients and peers.  Perhaps the most salient example of Christian caring is a summer elective course that takes students to Mexico as part of a mission trip.  There participants help provide medical assistance to indigent clients.

The Mexico mission has played an important part in setting goals for the School of Nursing.  Since 1992, the number of students and volunteers has tripled.  For the fifth year, Mississippi College nursing students, faculty members, volunteers and local physicians participated in the summer mission trip to the Rio Grande Valley.  "Nearly 400 patients were treated during the two-week mission.  Those involved were blessed in many different ways as they ministered to needy people," said Mary Ann Henriques, instructor of nursing and a participant in the mission effort.  "Even though the work is difficult and the working conditions are poor, an invisible cord seems to pull us back to them year after year."

Since those early beginnings until today, the Mississippi College School of Nursing continues to provide quality Christian professionals to the medical community and the world.  For that, we can all be grateful.