History | School of Nursing

Georgia Regents University - CON - History | School of Nursing

We are now Georgia Health Sciences University.

early photo of nursing students students in the class of 1974 nursing students with simulator

GHSU College of Nursing - History

The College of Nursing, Medical College of Georgia, had its beginning in 1943 as a Department of Nursing Education within the College of Education at the University of Georgia, Athens, with an Atlanta center offering courses to the graduate nurse population in that city. The following year the department was transferred to the College of Arts and Sciences; and in 1945 program, four and one-half years in length, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education (BSNE) was established for basic and registered nurse students. In 1954 these programs of specialization were discontinued, and the degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) was authorized.

On January 1, 1956 the Department of Nursing at the University of Georgia was moved to the Medical College of Georgia, becoming an autonomous school with a dean appointed as the administrative head. The transfer was authorized by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia with the determination to develop the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta as a health science university. Also in 1956 the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Hospital, a state constructed and managed teaching hospital, was opened.

At the time of the move to Augusta the Baccalaureate nursing program was the only undergraduate program at the Medical College. The first BSN degrees were awarded in 1958 Prior to that approximately 112 BSNE degrees had been conferred by the University of Georgia.

The Board of Regents authorized a graduate program in nursing in 1966 The first students were admitted to this program in 1968 The first Master of Science in Nursing degrees were conferred in 1969 and the PhD in Nursing degrees were conferred in 1990 In the fall of 1975 the graduate satellite program in Savannah, Georgia (SAVSAT) was opened with offices on the Armstrong State College campus. As a result of an evaluation study conducted during 1979-1980 the school decided to close the Savannah Satellite.

In 1974 the Medical College of Georgia instituted a satellite Baccalaureate nursing program (SONAT) in Athens with the cooperation of the University of Georgia. Students in the first classes followed an experimental integrated curriculum which led to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing after three calendar years of full-time study. In 1976 the curriculum changed to an upper division nursing plan to meet the demand of transfer undergraduate students and the experimental program was phased out. Since the Fall of 1978 the curriculum plans on both the Augusta and Athens campuses have been identical.

Historical Highlights

1944: Regents authorized the establishment of a department of nursing at UGA.

1945: First two graduates receive BSNE degrees.

1956: Department of Nursing transfers from the UGA to MCG and becomes a School of Nursing.

1956: E. Louise Grant becomes the first dean.

1958: School of Nursing Alumni Association established.

1958: First undergraduate nursing students graduate from the Medical
College of Georgia.

1963: BSN program is granted initial accreditation by the National League for Nursing.

1968: MSN program begins. (Granted initial accreditation by the NLN in 1973.)

1974: Beta Omicron chapter of Sigma Theta Tau chartered.

1974: School of Nursing at Athens (SONAT) opens.

1986: PhD program in nursing approved by the Board of Regents.

1987: Center for Nursing Research established.

1994: Board of Regents approved the state's only Nursing Anesthesia Program.

1995: The school's first distance program, RN-BSN at Gordon College is approved.

1997: RN to MSN/MN Program approved for implementation in Fall, 1998.

1998: First Endowed Chair of Nursing, the Kellett Chair of Nursing established.

2000: RN to BSN Program offered online.

2003: Faculty Practice Plan implemented.

2005: Doctor of Nursing Practice program approved, becoming only the tenth
DNP in the nation.

2006: Clinical Nurse Leader Program approved, one of the first in the region.

2006: SON moves into the Health Sciences Building, a multi-million dollar,
state of the art facility.