About the Nursing Department and BSN Program

BSN Program Mission and Vision Statement

Mission

We empower nursing students to become transformative, culturally sensitive leaders in inter-professional healthcare, delivering equitable, evidence-based care to diverse communities through inclusive partnerships, research, and lifelong learning.

Vision

The Department of Nursing will provide professional programs of the highest level of quality and service and achieve recognition for its programs. The Department's graduates will distinguish themselves through service to nursing and to inter-professional health care for a diverse society. The Department will be a premier intellectual resource for nursing and health care in this region.

Expected Learning Outcomes for the BSN Program

1. Graduates will have the knowledge of nursing practice as well as knowledge from other disciplines, including a foundation in liberal arts and natural and social sciences
2. Graduates will utilize person-centered care that focuses on the individual within multiple complicated contexts, including family and/or important others.
3. Graduates will promote population health that spans the healthcare delivery continuum for the improvement of equitable population health outcomes. 
4. Graduates will foster the generation, synthesis, translation, application, and dissemination of nursing knowledge to improve health and transform health care. 
5. Graduates will cultivate quality and safety by employment of established and emerging principles of safety and improvement science
6. Graduates will participate in intentional collaboration across professions and with care team members, patients, families, communities, and other stakeholders to optimize care, enhance the healthcare experience and strengthen outcomes
7. Graduates respond and lead within complex systems of health care to provide safe, quality, equitable care to diverse populations 
8. Graduates will utilize information and communication technologies and informatics processes to provide care, gather data, form information to drive decision-making, and support professionals.
9. Graduates will form and cultivate a sustainable professional nursing identity including accountability, perspective, collaborative disposition, and comportment that reflects nursing’s characteristics and values. 
10. Graduates will participate in activities and self-reflection that foster personal health, resilience, and well-being, lifelong learning, and support the acquisition of nursing expertise and assertion of leadership. 

About the Department of Nursing

Approval for the development of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at SVSU was granted by both the Michigan State Board of Education in 1975 and the Michigan State Board for Nursing in 1976. Full approval by the Michigan State Board for Nursing, requiring two graduating classes, was granted in 1980. National League for Nursing (NLN) accreditation was granted initially in 1982, retroactive to the first graduating class, with re-accreditation by them in 1989 and by the NLNAC in 1997. Initial accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) was granted for the BSN program for a ten year period in 2005.

The first class in the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program was admitted in 1988. NLNAC accreditation of that program was achieved in 1991, when the first class graduated and the program became eligible for that status. From that time to the present, the graduate program has consistently prepared nurses for advanced practice roles in education and client care management.  In 1996, the Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner track was added. The Clinical Nurse Leader track was offered in 2006.  The Board of Control approved the offering of a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program in 2012, the first and only doctoral program, at the university. This program was approved by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) in 2013 and CCNE in 2015. The DNP is both a BSN to Doctor of Nursing Practice in the area of Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner, and a post MSN DNP in the area of Practice Innovation.

For detailed guidelines and policies, please refer to the BSN Student Handbook (1,506KB).

Nursing History

Approval for development of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at SVSU was granted by the Michigan Board of Education in 1975, and the Michigan Board of Nursing in 1976. Full approval by the Michigan Board of Nursing, requiring two graduating classes, was granted in 1980. National League for Nursing (NLN) accreditation was granted initially in 1982, retroactive to the first graduating class, with re-accreditation occurring in 1989 and 1997. The nursing program was accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) from 1997 through 2005 and is currently accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

The first class of the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program was admitted in 1988. Accreditation of that program was achieved in 1991, when the first class graduated and the program became eligible for that status. From that time to the present the program has consistently prepared nurses for advanced nursing practice roles in education and client care management. In 1996 nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist tracks were added. SVSU offers all courses required for family nurse practitioner preparation, and has partnered with the University of Michigan in education of nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists preparing for practice in other specialty areas.