Reflections Magazine Issue #71 - Spring 2010 | Page 6

Campus News

Siena Nursing Program
Receives Final Approval
of Accreditation
In October 2009 the Higher Education Learning
Commission of the North Central Association
granted final approval to Siena Heights University’s Bachelor of Science in nursing prelicensure degree program. SHU Director of
Nursing Dr. Sue Idczak said now that this final
hurdle has been cleared, Siena becomes one
of 20 fully accredited approved baccalaureate
nursing programs in the state of Michigan.

Homecoming
2009

“At almost every turn there
was a different step that
had to be completed,” Dr.
Idczak (left) said of the
thorough accreditation
approval process that
lasted approximately two
years. “It still almost doesn’t seem real. But it
is.”“This is the news we have been waiting for
since we started the process of establishing a
nursing program,” said SHU President Sister Peg
Albert, OP, PhD. “Getting final approval is the
culmination and affirmation of a lot of peoples’
efforts, including our administration, faculty
and staff. Of course, Dr. Idczak has been the
driving force in this process, and we are blessed
to have her leading our program.”
Dr. Idczak said Siena’s nursing curriculum
will be practical and relevant to today’s health
care environment. Siena nursing students will
complete 78 credit hours of coursework in the
nursing major after completing prerequisites
in the liberal arts and sciences. The innovative
curriculum includes classes like Ethical, Cultural
and Spiritual Nursing Care; Pharmacology/
Pathophysiology; Health Policy, Systems and
Informatics in Nursing; Community, Population,
and Global Health Care; and Nursing Care of
the Family: Men, Women and Children.
The program will also challenge a nurse to
explore his or her values and beliefs about
the profession of nursing, including concepts
relating to diversity, spirituality, ethics,
evidenced-based practice and leadership, Dr.
Idczak said. The first four-year BSN students
began their first classes Jan. 11, 2010.

Professor of English has
Poetry Published
Siena Heights Associate Professor of English
Saleem Peeradina had his poetry featured in a
two-page spread in the November/December
issue of World Literature Today, the oldest—
now going on 83 years—and most prestigious
journal devoted to international writers.

6

Reflections Spring ’10

All Roads
Lead Back to
Siena Heights