SREB Nursing Council to Sunset June 30
70 years of Leadership in Nurse Education in the South
The Southern Regional Education Board and its Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing announced today that the Council’s programs will conclude June 30, 2020.
“It is with pride and considerable gratitude that SREB’s Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing announces that we will sunset our programs and services at the end of the current fiscal year,” wrote CCEN President Shelley Conroy and SREB President Stephen Pruitt in a letter to members. “Pride in the council’s strong legacy of promoting the nursing profession and facing the profession’s challenges for 70 years. And gratitude for opportunities to serve the profession, the Southern region’s nursing programs and our higher education institutions.”
The SREB Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing was at the forefront of major changes in nursing education over the last 70 years. Its origins date to shortly after SREB’s founding in 1948 by Southern governors who sought to address poverty by building the South’s capacity for professional health education. With a focus on nursing and nurse educator shortages, it promoted better preparation for nurses and greater diversity in the profession. It advocated the advancement of nurses in the profession and in the academy: first the bachelor’s degree, then the master’s degree and doctorate.
It led the Southern region in establishing mental health nursing programs; promoted school-based nursing; sponsored surveys to gather data for making better decisions; launched an online collaborative course series to help doctoral students find courses they needed; and hosted an annual professional development conference.
In recent years, membership in the Council dwindled as national nursing organizations brought more programming to SREB states. A membership campaign and surveys of nursing deans provided insight for the Council as it considered the future.
“In the end, the council’s officers and SREB leaders recognized that while the council’s years have been productive and our legacy remains strong, it was time to sunset the council,” wrote Conroy and Pruitt.
The Council’s leadership voted to use remaining funds to provide six scholarships for minority nursing faculty at CCEN member institutions who are students in regional doctoral programs.