School of Nursing enjoys rich legacy

This fall, Baker University School of Nursing celebrates 25 years of developing exceptional nurses and nursing educators and administrators. Although plenty has changed in the profession in that time, the high standards of the School of Nursing has been consistent. Dating back to the school’s founding in 1991 through a partnership with Stormont Vail Health—the Magnet-designated hospital for nursing excellence in Topeka, Kansas—1,533 students have earned the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, the school’s highly selective flagship program.

One of the more recent advances at the school is the introduction of the Master of Science in Nursing program, which was launched the fall of 2015. While students in the bachelor’s program take classes in the Pozez Education Center at Stormont Vail, the master’s program is offered exclusively online and allows students to pursue one of two tracks: nursing education or nursing administration.

As one generation of nurses and nursing educators prepares to retire, creating new job opportunities for their successors, Baker School of Nursing is maintaining its reputation for training workforce-ready health care professionals. This reputation rests on the solid academic success of Baker nursing graduates, who frequently have job offers before receiving their diplomas. This was the case for more than 90 percent of the school’s May graduating class. Moreover, the class boasted a 96.4% first-time pass rate on the national licensure exam, which far exceeds state and national averages.

While Baker’s nursing graduates are known for providing outstanding health care locally and receiving innumerable awards for nursing excellence, two in particular have made a notable international impact and created a lasting relationship with Baker staff and students. Shortly after graduating from the School of Nursing, Ephantus Kimori Mwangi, ’08, and Hottensiah Kimori, ’08, founded Streams of Hope International, a program dedicated to promoting best-practice health care in their native Kenyan communities. Each summer, several School of Nursing students and faculty travel to Kenya for an annual outreach project in conjunction with Streams of Hope International to take part in a unique, meaningful learning experience.