From the Dean: State of the School

*Excerpted from Dean Berkowitz's state of the school address at Alumni Reunion 2016.

It truly has been an outstanding year at Columbia University School of Nursing. Together we have accomplished so much with so much good news to share.

We will open the doors of Columbia Nursing’s Washington Heights Faculty Practice this summer. This new location will allow us to expand our high-quality primary care services to this community, serving local residents, schools and businesses as well as the Columbia University Medical Center community of faculty, staff and students. We are giving our faculty practice, both here, in midtown, and future locations a new name, the Nurse Practitioner Group, one that differentiates us as nurse practitioners and at the same time promotes our affiliation as the Primary Care team of the world-class ColumbiaDoctors network. In addition to serving our community, it will provide a rigorous clinical learning experience for our students, representing a natural transition from the classroom to the exam room.

This year, Columbia Nursing moved from 11th to 8th in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings, placing us in the top 10 nursing schools in the nation. Also this year, for the first time, the Report ranked Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs; and our DNP program was rated in the top 5, as 4th in the nation.  While we view these surveys with care, we are proud to be recognized for our academic and research excellence by our peers.

Drawing from a record number of applicants to our entry-to-practice program, we recently graduated the largest cohort of students from the Bachelor of Science program. This was academically the strongest class in our history. What’s more, 42 percent of the class came from diverse communities, a testament to our commitment to introduce more students from under-represented groups to nursing.  

This summer we welcome our first cohort of students into our new Masters Direct Entry (MDE) program. Our MDE program is built on the strong foundation of our entry-to-practice curriculum and will be completed in four consecutive semesters, focusing on care coordination, evidence-based practice, and culturally sensitive care. MDE will prepare our future nurses to meet the challenges of caring for more complicated, longer-living patients.

Our incoming class of MDE students comprises a wide range of ages, racial and ethnic backgrounds, professional and educational experiences, and an impressive demonstration of academic excellence and dedication to the field. In fact, half have already committed to our doctoral programs.

On the research front, we strengthened ongoing programs to support our doctoral students and faculty members in pursuing research grants. This work is paying off: our ranking across all schools of nursing for National Institutes of Health support has moved up to 16th, and in the top tier of all schools of nursing. We continue to be among the 10 percent of doctoral programs nationwide receiving federal training grants to support pre and post-doctoral scholars.

Our faculty members have more than 70 wide-ranging active research grants. A few examples include studies to examine potential benefits of using cell phones to monitor cardiac patients for recurring atrial fibrillation; a web application offering self-care strategies for cardiovascular disease and other serious conditions to people living with HIV/AIDS; infection risks in children living in long-term care facilities; clinical nursing research gaps globally; and web-based interventions to support caregivers of Hispanic dementia patients.

On the global front our school was re-designated a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Advanced Practice Nursing. Our Office of Global Initiatives led by Dr. Elaine Larson and Dr. Jennifer Dohrn continues to build important relationships with academic nursing institutions in Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Earlier this year Dr. Dohrn joined global health experts at the World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva to finalize strategic guidelines to strengthen the nursing and midwifery workforce for the next five years; serving as a guide to ministries of health, NGOs, and educational institutions worldwide.

Working together with the Columbia Global Center in Nairobi, we convened a landmark conference of nursing and midwifery leaders from 11 sub-Saharan African nations in Nairobi to identify and develop plans for addressing gaps and priorities in nursing and midwifery clinical research in the region. The conference earned international media coverage, including the New York Times.

This year, we are working in Amman, Jordan where representatives from approximately 22 countries from the Eastern Mediterranean region will convene to identify regional nursing and midwifery clinical research priorities.

Our students are gaining extraordinary global opportunities to learn and grow as professional nurses through the establishment of new partnerships with institutions in countries such as Mexico, Jamaica, the West Indies and Malawi; allowing them to take part in clinical rotations for the first time this year. Our students were in rural Ghana earlier this spring where they assessed sanitation and hygiene practices in the school and home, looking at what impact these practices have on education, attendance and absenteeism.  These are truly exceptional experiences that help to instill our future nurses with a keen sense of the world and human experience.

Columbia Nursing has been successful and innovative because we are strategic. We have just launched the development of our new five-year Strategic Plan. As we begin this work over the summer we have enlisted the support of faculty and staff to participate in the process.

Columbia Nursing’s new home will be opening in 2017. As most of you know, we celebrated our progress with a topping-off ceremony in December where students, alumni, faculty, and other members of the Columbia University community gathered to sign the last beam and watch as it was lifted into the steel structure. That beam has many of your signatures and wishes hand-written onto it, and I’m thankful we could celebrate this milestone in such a special event.

We received a $6.5 million pledge from the Helene Fuld Health Trust that will support the Helene Fuld Simulation Center, underwrite an Institute for Excellence in Simulation, and increase financial aid for our students through the Helene Fuld Scholarship Fund. We were also awarded a $2.5 million grant from the Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program to help fund construction--another acknowledgement of our standing and reputation as a leader in nursing.

The building will also serve as home to the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare by virtue of an $11.1 million grant from Barbara and Donald Jonas. We are honored to partner with one of the foremost philanthropic organizations in nursing.

The magnificent functional design of our building will furnish the best in teaching and research environments including flexible space to promote collaboration and a state-of-the art simulation center. And then there’s the rooftop garden terrace with a view of the bridge. As we anticipate moving to our new home in 2017, I keep thinking about how we are defining the future of health and health care. We truly are the future of nursing, 125 years in the making.