Evangel, Cox offer joint nursing degree

Springfield's Evangel University and the Lester L. Cox College of Nursing have announced a partnership in which Evangel students will be able to earn bachelor's degrees in nursing.

According to an Evangel news release, the two entities previously offered joint nursing degrees to students, but market changes brought an end to that partnership program in the mid-1980s.

Graduates from the new Evangel-Cox program will earn dual degrees a bachelor of science in biology from Evangel and a bachelor of science in nursing from Cox.

Students will take about half of their classes at Cox and half at Evangel, but they will live on Evangel's campus and have full access to opportunities and services offered by the school.

"This joint venture will give students the option of earning a nursing degree, incorporating the Christian liberal arts of Evangel with the established and re-spected nursing curriculum at Cox," said Evangel President Robert H. Spence, PhD.

"Demand for a nursing degree has been very strong, and we are pleased to once again offer this option to our prospects."

"According to the Bureau of Health Professionals, there is currently a regional and national shortage of nurses with bachelor's degrees preparation. Recent studies are calling for two-thirds of all nurses to be prepared at the bachelor's degree level by 2010," said Dr. DeLois Weekes, president of Cox College.