Through a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, a Kansas community college has expanded its nursing program, the Dodge City Daily Globe reported.

The Kansas Department of Labor estimates that by 2012, job openings in southwest Kansas will increase by 21.6% for LPNs and 27.5% for RNs.

The three-year grant is helping Dodge City Community College’s Allied Health Department meet the demands of nursing. Fifty students are enrolled in the allied health program, but the college hopes to double that number by the end of 2009.

One new program is a seven-day workshop geared toward incoming junior and senior high school students and college freshmen. It helps students get a head start on the course work they’ll see once they enter college, while informing them about possible careers in the nursing field, the newspaper reported.

In addition, a new Nursing Success Center on campus provides assistance to students who are struggling with their courses.

This year, the college also was able to offer interactive CNA and CMA courses through off-campus locations in Spearville, Cimarron, and Ashland. Because interactive equipment is located within each town’s high school, students can take classes in their home towns if they’re unable to drive to the Dodge City campus.

This fall, the college also hopes to increase availability of the nursing program to nontraditional students by offering evening LPN and RN courses.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 8:42 am and is filed under News and Education, Financial Aid, College Grant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.