| November 22, 2000 |
Contact: Judith
Lunsford |
On Jan. 1, 2001, Georgia Baptist College of Nursing (GBCN) in Atlanta will merge with Mercer University, becoming the University's ninth school. As part of Mercer University, GBCN will relocate from downtown Atlanta to Mercer's 150-acre Cecil B. Day campus, just north of Atlanta, and will add a graduate nursing program to its curriculum in 2002.
"Mercer is proud to have Georgia Baptist College of Nursing become a part of the University community," said Mercer University President R. Kirby Godsey. "The College of Nursing has an enduring reputation for putting learning into service and faith in practice. Its students and graduates have an unwavering dedication to serving humanity.
"Healthcare today is one of our country's major concerns, as medical institutions are facing a critical shortage of nursing professionals," continued President Godsey. "The merger of the College of Nursing will complement Mercer's health care programs in medicine and pharmacy, while giving the College of Nursing a home within a comprehensive university, where it can continue to grow and advance."
The merger, which brings together two of Georgia's historic Baptist educational institutions, received the approval of both institutions' board of trustees, the Georgia Baptist Convention's Executive Committee and Georgia Baptist Health Care System, Inc.
To be known as Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer University, the 98-year-old nursing program will relocate from its current location at 274 Boulevard to Mercer's Cecil B. Day Campus in Atlanta. Construction is underway on a new $8-million, state-of-the-art facility to house the college. Scheduled to be completed by late 2001, the 60,000-square-foot, three-story building will offer the latest in computer technology, including a computer interactive classroom, as well as lecture and seminar rooms, study alcoves, administrative and faculty offices and rooms for student organizations and activities. Also being constructed on campus are additional student apartments.
The 311-student college currently offers the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. A Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree program will be introduced in 2002. The college is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission.
"The College of Nursing is anticipating great changes within the next year while remaining true to its changeless core," said Georgia Baptist College of Nursing President Susan S. Gunby, who will serve as dean of the college after the merger. "The plans for these two outstanding institutions of higher education are based upon the mutual growth and enhancement of the missions and core values of both entities."
Georgia Baptist College of Nursing was founded in 1902 as the Baptist Tabernacle Infirmary School for Nurses in a five-room cottage in downtown Atlanta. Its vision was educating students to "heal the needy sick." The school's first class of four students graduated in 1904. Two years later, the training school changed to a three-year-diploma nursing program.
In 1913, the nursing program became part of the Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, under the authority of the Georgia Baptist Convention, and became known as the Georgia Baptist Hospital School of Nursing.
In the 1980s, the school evaluated the future needs of nursing and the demands on the profession in the rapidly expanding areas of healthcare. The school sought approval, and was granted by the Georgia Board of Nursing, to become a baccalaureate program. The first baccalaureate class was accepted in 1989, with 36 students graduating with BSN degrees in 1993. With the new four-year program, the school was renamed Georgia Baptist College of Nursing.
With an overall student-to-teacher ratio of 10 to 1, the college combines classroom studies with "hands-on" learning in many areas of nursing, providing students with opportunities to integrate textbook theory with real-life situations and practice. Students work with many of the Atlanta area's most recognized healthcare agencies, including Atlanta Medical Center, Piedmont Hospital, Grady Health System, Northside Hospital, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta, Emory Eastside Medical Center and Gwinnett Hospital System, to name a few. It is the only nursing school in the Southeast that has three years of clinical instruction in its curriculum.
The institution's reputation for excellence is well-founded since the college repeatedly has had among Georgia nursing programs the highest percentage of graduates passing the National Council of State Boards of Nursing licensure exam for RNs.
Mercer University is among the largest Baptist-affiliated institutions in the world. Named one of the leading universities in the South by U.S. News and World Report for 11 consecutive years, Mercer is the only university of its size in the nation to offer programs in business, education, engineering, law, liberal arts, medicine, pharmacy and theology. Founded in 1833, Mercer enrolls approximately 7,400 students, representing 35 states and 75 countries.
While the University's main campus is in Macon, Mercer's Cecil B. Day campus in Atlanta is home of the University's graduate and professional center, including Southern School of Pharmacy, McAfee School of Theology and graduate programs for the School of Education, Stetson School of Business and Economics and the School of Engineering and the English Language Institute.
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