Associate Dean's Message

Claudette Spalding, Ph.D., ARNP, CNAA

We believe that our success in graduate education is linked to our ability to respond to the realities beyond our academic setting. These realities include financially driven managed care systems with nursing leaders who need advanced degrees; a large underserved multicultural population; a rapidly increasing elderly population; ethical decision-making related to limited resources within the health care system; and an applicant pool of nurses who prefer to remain employed and to pursue their graduate degrees as part-time students because of financial concerns and other responsibilities.

Thus, at both the masters' and the doctoral level, we strive to create an educational environment that will facilitate lifelong learning among our students so that they will be able to adapt to and direct changes in an unsettled and evolving health care system. With the relevant knowledge base, our graduates can be positioned to assume critical leadership and be among the architects of change. We also believe that the masters' and doctoral programs at Barry University Division of Nursing are outstanding sources of nursing leadership.

To meet the demand for future nursing leaders, we have several options at the graduate level. The purpose of the Master of Science in Nursing program is to provide a sequential plan of study that leads to the preparation of an advanced practice nurse (FNP or Acute Care) or preparation in a specialized nursing role such as nurse educator or nurse administrator. Within this context, there is also preparation in research methods and skills that provide a foundation for further study at the doctoral level. The graduates of these specialties have a great deal of flexibility in that they can function in a variety of health care delivery systems and educational settings.

Another outstanding feature of Barry University Division of Nursing is its location. Situated in the international city of Miami, there are many opportunities for cultural and other recreational activities.