School of Nursing expanding to La Crosse

The School of Nursing will offer a baccalaureate-nursing program and degree to students at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, one of the state’s largest health-care networks.

The nursing shortage both in Wisconsin and nationally is acute. One of the difficulties in training new nurses has been a lack of sufficient qualified instructors. Because practicing nurses at Gundersen will serve as faculty, the bachelor of science in nursing program can expand without requiring more instructors.

The first class will have 12-14 students; eventually as many as 48 students will be enrolled, representing a net increase of almost 50 percent in the school’s undergraduate enrollment.