Board approves nursing graduate program at LCSC

Lewis-Clark State College received approval from the Idaho State Board of Education on Thursday to offer its first-ever graduate program.

The fully online, 13-credit graduate certificate for nursing management and leadership is set to begin in the fall of 2021. The unanimous vote from the board allows officials at the college to submit the program to the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities for approval.

Officials from LCSC said the idea for the program originated from a request from Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene, which expressed a need for advanced educational opportunities. They said the move is also supported by St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, which needs more nurses that can take on leadership roles in its hospital.

Lori Stinson, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said it was “a momentous day” for everyone at LCSC.

The program, with a capacity of 20 students, will serve nurses who already have a bachelor’s degree. Those pursuing a Bachelor of Science in nursing will also be able to take courses in their final semester.

The program will utilize existing faculty and resources, and LCSC will reallocate internal costs to cover instructional needs.

Full-time, in-state students will be charged $9,000 per year.

Stinson said nurses will likely enroll in the program on a part-time basis since many of the students will already have jobs.

The program prepares students for roles like a nursing program supervisor, chief nursing officer or clinical director.

LCSC President Cynthia Pemberton said the college already has an upper-division nursing leadership and management certificate program at the undergraduate level, so she said it wasn’t “a huge stretch for us to expand into this graduate arena to better serve nurses in our region that might be interested in this next-level credential.”

Pemberton also noted that LCSC likely won’t be adding many other graduate programs in the future.

“That’s not who we are in terms of our core values, but given this specific, explicit need, we are excited to offer this next-level educational opportunity,” she said.

No other college or university in Idaho offers the graduate program.

In other news:

High school students who graduate in 2021 will not have to take a college entrance exam this year after the board unanimously waived the statewide graduation requirement. Juniors in high school typically take the test, but it was canceled last spring because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is something that we have been hearing about and discussing with school district administrators, with students and parents, and I believe this is the appropriate action given the environment and the circumstances,” state board President Debbie Critchfield said.

Board member Linda Clark said schools can still make a local decision to require the test, if they so choose.

The University of Idaho received approval to establish its nonprofit Strategic Initiatives Fund, which will provide an appropriate tax structure and a way to maximize the investment from a previously approved 50-year lease agreement to manage its steam plant and utility system. Approximately $188 million from the public-private partnership agreement will be deposited into the fund.

The fund will have its own board of directors, and the money will be used to make utility fee payments, invest in research, support student scholarships and can be used for marketing and communications.

The lease was approved by the board in November.

The board approved a five-year agreement between University of Idaho and the city of Moscow for police, fire and preventative services on its campus. The agreement will run through September 2025 and includes the opportunity to renew the contract for another five years. The cost for contracted services totals almost $1.5 million annually.

As part of the agreement, UI will pay half of the cost for a fire department ladder truck engine, which is estimated to cost about $750,000. UI will also pay for extra police and fire services for special events not listed in the contract.

The board also granted UI conditional approval of a new master’s program in teaching. The university can now admit candidates into the program, which will help prepare teachers to obtain an Idaho educator credential.

UI received approval to issue new general revenue refunding bonds, so it can take advantage of low interest rates. The move, according to Brian Foisy, UI’s vice president of finance and administration, could save the university $11.8 million. The new bonds will have fixed interest rates and UI will “redeem old debt” from refunding bonds issued in 2011.

Justyna Tomtas may be contacted at jtomtas@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2294. Follow her on Twitter @jtomtas.