Palm Beach State College will begin offering its much-anticipated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in January to help registered nurses with associate degrees boost their training.


An information session will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 25 in Room 129 in the Natural Science building on the Lake Worth campus, 4200 Congress Ave. Faculty and advisors will be on hand to answer questions about the requirements and the application process. The program creates a more affordable path for registered nurses with an associate degree and a current Florida nursing license to advance their education and move into administrative and supervisory roles in health care.

The application deadline for the inaugural class of up to 105 students is Oct. 1.

“I am pumped. I can’t wait to get this program up and going and to let the nurses begin,” said Dr. Gary Reardon, program director, who has been a registered nurse for 30 years.  “I want nurses to embrace the future because the future is in education. Nurses should be practicing at the highest level of education that they possibly can.”


Palm Beach State received approval from the state Board of Education last summer to offer the B.S.N. and received final approval earlier this year from its accrediting body, the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

With the types of medical issues facing patients today, Reardon said, it is critically important for nurses to continue learning.

“Our health care system is in such a state that our patients’ diagnoses are much more complex than they’ve ever been. With a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a focus on leadership, it will help that nurse to navigate through the complex systems that ultimately will assist the patients on their road to recovery,” he said.

“There is a lot of demand in the hospitals that have moved toward specialized status where they’re going to need many of their nurses to be bachelor’s degree prepared, so the time is great on this,’’ added Dr. Anita Kaplan, dean of bachelor degree programs.

The program includes 36 credit hours — 12 classes — and a capstone project with two clinical components: community and leadership.  Courses will be offered online and in person.

This marks the third bachelor’s degree program at the college which began offering a Bachelor of Applied Science in Supervision and Management in fall 2009. Earlier this year, it added the B.A.S. in Information Management. 

For more information, call 561- 868-4100 or visit www.palmbeachstate.edu/bachelor.xml.