Beginning in the fall of 2013, registered nurses will be able to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Bemidji School of Nursing on the campus of Century College in White Bear Lake, Minn.

The Bemidji School of Nursing includes baccalaureate nursing programs at Bemidji State University and two-year nursing degree programs at Northwest Technical College in Bemidji, Minn.

The partnership was formalized in a May 14 signing ceremony on the Century College campus.

The program will offer registered nurses a combination of on-campus and online courses, allowing them to pursue their bachelor’s degrees. Featuring full- and part-time enrollment options with block scheduling on Wednesdays, students will study at the Century College campus for three weeks during the semester and online during alternate weeks. Clinical experiences will be arranged at a variety of sites, with the goal of having these sites as close to a student’s home as possible.

Enrollment in the program will be capped at 40 students. BSU’s nursing colocation programs fill to capacity quickly, so interested students are highly encouraged to enroll as early as possible. For more information, contact Marlene Erickson at the Bemidji School of Nursing, (218) 755-2736, merickson@bemidjistate.edu.

Interested students also can directly apply online.

“There continues to be a huge demand among Minnesota’s nurses for programs like these,” said Dr. Jeanine Gangeness, founding dean of the Bemidji School of Nursing. “This is part of our continuing effort to support the ability of nurses to come back to school and complete their education.”

The expansion to Century College is the third colocation agreement for the Bemidji School of Nursing. The school opened its first colocation program on the campus of Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Cambridge in the fall of 2009, which has since been expanded to two cohorts, and added a location at Lake Superior College in Duluth in the fall of 2011.

Both the Anoka-Ramsey and Lake Superior programs have been enrolled to maximum capacity since they opened.

Bemidji State University and Century College are part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. The system comprises 32 institutions, including seven state universities and 25 two-year colleges and is the largest single provider of higher education in the state of Minnesota.

For more information about the university portal program, please contact the Bemidji School of Nursing, (218) 755-3860, nursingdept@bemidjistate.edu.

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• Bemidji State University
• Century College