Nursing Program at Western CT State University Earns Distinctions

Nursing schools in Connecticut, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, are being relied upon increasingly to provide nurses to fill gaps amongst the ranks throughout the state, in hospitals and an array of healthcare settings.  Among those institutions is Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, which has recently received positive notices for its efforts.

Two online rankings of collegiate nursing programs have cited the Western Connecticut State University Department of Nursing as a top program in which to pursue a nursing education.

RNtoMSN.org, a website designed to provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use resource for registered nurses researching academic degree programs, announced this week that WCSU Nursing has been named one of the “30 Most Diverse Nursing Schools in America.”

At the same time, nursingprocess.org, a site that exists to simplify the search process for students by providing access to nursing education and career information based on data sorted by state, named WCSU Nursing one of the “Seven Best Accredited Nursing Schools in Connecticut for 2022.”

According to the RNtoMSN.org website, “Nursing diversity refers to the practice of training, hiring and supporting nurses from all walks of life. Although race and ethnicity are part of this equation, they’re not the only elements. A diverse nursing workforce is one that reflects its own multicultural society.”

WCSU is the only Connecticut public or private university that made the Top 30 diversity list. In selecting WCSU, RNtoMSN.org mentioned the significant number of male nursing students at WCSU in relation to similar programs as one notable factor.

“When I found out about being named one of the 30 most diverse nursing schools in America, I was very proud to be recognized for our great diversity in nursing,” said Dr. Jeanette Lupinacci, chair of the WCSU Department of Nursing, in reacted to the rankings. “Our clinical partners are looking for diverse prospective employees and our students are a great match. Our university and program pride ourselves on our diverse student population. We work hard to support our students who many times work while going to school.”

WCSU officials noted that more than 82% of their students are home-grown – they are from Connecticut and later become employed by local community hospitals. The university offers four areas of study in nursing: Undergraduate, RN to BS, Masters and Doctoral Studies, “allowing for a comprehensive interactive curriculum, engaged learners, emphasis on critical thinking and promoting professionalism in nursing practice,” according to the university website, which also stress that the school offers small class sizes and accessible faculty.

In selecting the best accredited nursing schools in Connecticut, Nursingprocess.org used criteria including academic quality, acceptance rate, graduation rate, retention rate, student-to-faculty ratio, NCLEX-RN first-time pass rate, affordability and the school’s reputation to compute its ranking. Of the accredited programs in Connecticut named to the “Top Seven” list, four were private and three were public institutions. WCSU was the second highest-ranked public institution and the highest-ranked Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) institution with its sixth overall spot on the list.

“As far as being named one of the top seven accredited nursing schools in Connecticut, we are proud to receive yet another acknowledgement of the success of our program,” Lupinacci said. “We have a dedicated faculty who strive to maintain high standards for nursing education and the profession of nursing. We expanded our nursing labs because we recognize the importance of simulation in learning. We want to keep pushing our students to be the best at being able to critically think on their feet and to keep working toward improving clinical judgment and safe nursing practice. We’re happy to be recognized for the hard work that we all do.”

 photo credit: Peggy Stewart