As enrollment expands, MSOE invests in new nursing labs, programs and industry partnership

Seeking to meet historic enrollment growth and citing a shortage of nurses nationwide, the Milwaukee School of Engineering announced Monday a major laboratory expansion, new academic programs and an industry partnership that aims to change the way psychiatric nurses are trained.

"There is a critical shortage of nurses in our region and our country. Our population is growing and it is aging," MSOE President John Walz said.

MSOE saw its largest class of nursing students in history last year, with 63 freshmen boosting total nursing enrollment to more than 200. And applications for next year are up more than 20%, Walz said.

Funded by a donation from MSOE board member and alumna Kathleen Ruehlow, the school plans a 2,200-square-foot expansion to its nursing lab space, adding simulation rooms in which faculty can train students in scenarios ranging from single-patient care in a home or outpatient clinic, to large multibed clinics to even community disaster scenarios. 

In fall 2013, Ruehlow provided financial support to relocate the college's nursing school to the new, $3 million Ruehlow Nursing Complex. Ruehlow declined to specify how much the gift for the new expansion was but said she is glad for the chance to support the school and wants it to be "the best it can be."

MSOE will establish several new programs in the growing nursing school, all aimed at addressing specific shortages across the country.

One is a new gerontology certificate program.

Another is a new direct entry master's in nursing, designed to create a pathway into nursing for students who have a bachelor's degree in a different field. Graduates will leave the program with a bachelor's and master's in nursing and will have two paths they can specialize in: leadership and management, or psychiatric mental health.

The new psychiatric mental health program will benefit from a partnership with Rogers Behavioral Health, a Wisconsin-based not-for-profit treatment and advocacy center for a range of mental health disorders. 

"This year, more individuals will take their life by suicide or accidental overdose than the lives that will be taken from us through homicide," said Paul Mueller, CEO of Rogers Behavioral Health's Hospital Division. "It's an alarming statistic and clearly we are in the midst of a mental health and addiction crisis."

Contact Devi Shastri at 414-224-2193 or DAShastri@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @DeviShastri.