University of Arizona to offer new nursing degree program in Gilbert

PHOENIX – The University of Arizona College of Nursing announced plans Friday to launch a new degree program in the East Valley.

The school will offer classes toward a bachelor’s in nursing with an integrative health pathway at the University Building in Gilbert’s Heritage District.

“This will be the first nursing program nationally to incorporate integrative health content and interventions into a BSN program,” Ki Moore, the nursing college’s interim dean, said in a press release.

The release said the program differs from conventional nursing training in that it “promotes a healing-oriented, whole-person approach to health care.”

Have you heard the news?! We're thrilled to have the University of Arizona College of Nursing (@UACON) come to Gilbert's Heritage District! 🎉

Classes are scheduled to start in Fall 2019. 🎓

Learn more ➡️ https://t.co/4iETdfXixr#FridayFeeling #ComingToGilbert pic.twitter.com/ckQqPyeZDd

— Gilbert, Arizona (@GilbertYourTown) February 8, 2019

“We are thrilled that the University of Arizona is bringing their nationally ranked nursing program to Gilbert and I look forward to supporting this great institution in their efforts to fill the demand in Arizona’s rapidly growing health care industry,” Mayor Jenn Daniels said in the release.

The University Building is equipped with a nursing simulation suite that replicates a hospital setting, which the release said was a major factor in the college’s decision to move there.

Classes in the four-semester program will begin in the fall and occupy the entire third floor of the building, which also houses a satellite campus for Missouri-based Park University.

The program expects to enroll 72 students to start and reach 216 students by its third year.

Gilbert invested around $37 million in the four-story building that opened in 2015 on Vaughn Avenue, west of Gilbert Road.

Saint Xavier University was the initial tenant, but the Chicago-based school pulled out of its 15-year lease a year later, citing funding issues in its home state. Saint Xavier’s agreed to pay $4 million to end the deal.

After the building sat mostly unused for two years, Park came in as a tenant in 2018.

The University of Arizona also has been offering coding boot camps at the facility since 2017.

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