College to have upper-level nursing program

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Beginning next January, many Mat-Su College students won't have to drive into Anchorage to take upper-level courses for the University of Alaska nursing program.

Mat-Su College will host University of Alaska Anchorage faculty members who will come out to teach the courses. The curriculum, though, will remain UAA's.

"The folks here have been asking for this for a long time," said MSC Director Paul Dauphinais. "We're a population area that's growing rapidly, we have the folks here and that's why it's coming."

Dauphinais said he expects the move to increase college enrollment numbers for Valley residents.

"I think people are going to see that the university does want to support the Valley," he said, "and I think we're going to get more folks not so much from the core area of Wasilla and Palmer, but I think we'll start getting more folks from Sutton and Talkeetna coming in wanting to see what the college is about."

While course fees for the nursing classes will go to UAA in Anchorage, Dauphinais said he expects MSC to see increased revenue through tuition fees and fees for lower-level courses, which nursing students must take before moving on to the more advanced classes.

"Nurses have to take anatomy and physiology, chemistry and several biology courses," Dauphinais said. "We offer all of those here."

Part of the reason for offering the nursing program in the Valley is that the University of Alaska is trying to increase its number of nursing graduates. With a growing demand for nurses statewide, Dauphinais said the state has asked the university to double the number of graduates.

Nurse practicums, which currently take place at Valley Hospital, are expected to continue when the new Mat-Su Regional Medical Center opens next year.

"Hopefully this program will take some of our best and brightest and keep them here for the entire course of their education," Dauphinais said.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.