The School of Nursing community came together last Friday to hear about the school's current conditions.
Nursing Dean Afaf Meleis delivered the annual state-of-the-school lecture, speaking about the school's progress over the last year, recalling its achievements and outlining its goals for the future.
Every year, the Nursing Dean delivers this type of speech to touch base with the community and speak about progress as well as current and upcoming issues.
Highlights from her speech include:
n The number of Nursing faculty has increased 36 percent since 2003 and 5 percent since last year, ranking the school sixth among the schools at Penn in terms of number of faculty members.
n There are currently 937 enrolled Nursing students, and the school will continue to grow until it reaches about 1,000 students, the maximum capacity.
n The school saw an increase of 143 percent in the number of applicants, reflecting a growing interest in nursing as a profession.
n As a result of an increase in applicants, the acceptance rate for the Nursing Class of 2011 was 26 percent, about half the average 50-percent acceptance rate among nursing schools around the country.
n The diversity of the Nursing student population has not seen a great deal of change, and Meleis pledged to work on this issue in the future.
n The current budget for the Nursing School is close to $70 million. Seventeen percent of that was allocated toward financial aid for students.
n Additional challenges include faculty recruitment, particularly in the fields of anesthesia, women's health and geropsychiatric nursing.
n Other goals include increasing support of research missions; recruiting highly productive and diverse faculty; and implementing teaching technology and information systems.
