Seven months after its grand opening in June 2023, Fairfield’s Austin campus welcomed its second cohort of accelerated second-degree nursing students.
Twenty-two new students in the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies stepped into the classroom on Tuesday to begin their 15-month journey toward a bachelor of science degree in nursing at Fairfield University’s Austin campus. The Class of 2025 joins the inaugural cohort at the school’s state-of-the-art facility in the capital city of Texas.
Lucina Kimpel, PhD, MSN, RN, director of the Accelerated Second Degree Nursing (ASDNU) program in Austin, has spent months preparing for the new cohort. “The new students have already created more hustle and bustle around campus,” she said. “We have added new faculty and adjuncts, purchased new equipment, and expanded our clinical sites for this second cohort. We are excited the students have finally joined us.”
Fairfield’s nationally ranked Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies partners with Baylor Scott & White Health, Ascension Seton, St. David’s HealthCare, and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System to ensure its students receive the highest quality clinical experience available in the Austin area.
“We are thrilled to work with these new students, faculty, staff, and our amazing Austin clinical partners, to help address the nursing shortage and provide excellent care to the patients and families of Texas,” said Dean Meredith Wallace Kazer, PhD, APRN, FAAN.
Though new to Texas, Fairfield Egan’s ASDNU program has been in existence for more than two decades. It is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Upon completion of the program, students are eligible to sit for the National Council Licensure Exam to become registered nurses.
The second cohort features diverse exemplary students, a quarter of whom represent cities outside of Texas, including New York City, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Hilo.
