The nursing department at Cal State Long Beach is beginning to raise money to expand from its current two classrooms to six or seven. The department admitted 140 students into the program this year, which is four times the amount admitted in 2004. The department is continuously growing in population and now needs their facilities to grow with it.
“California has the most severe nursing shortage,” said Dr. Lucy Huckabay, the director of the nursing program at CSULB. “The Chancellor’s Office has been asking every CSU to double, triple, quadruple their nursing departments.”
California is aging, according to Huckabay, which is why the shortage is so severe. The state will continue to increase in its need of nurses. CSULB’s nursing department plans on increasing as well.
The nursing department cannot add on to the existing building, so it is hoping to build a two-story building in the current parking lot that will contain at least six or seven classrooms. This will cost the department $12 million.
“In the state legislature there is a bill that if it passes, there will be enough money for five nursing schools to expand,” Huckabay said. “It would give $2 million to our nursing program.”
The nursing department has contributed another $1 million, so it needs to gather an additional $9 million through fundraising.
“The money would have to come from the state before we start planning,” said Scott Char-mack, the assistant vice president of Physical Planning and Facilities Management.
“That would be in July of 2007, if the budget passes.”
Charmack explained that construction would begin after a year of planning and after a fair amount of donor money. The duration of the construction would be about a year.
Huckabay is writing letters to alumniwith the help of Patricia Maxwell of the Development Office for Health and Human Services. Another team is writing letters to foundations and drug companies.
“I would also like the public to know so a benevolent donor may help if they want care in the future,” Huckabay said. “It’s because of nursing that hospitals exist.”
Dr. Beth Keely, a nursing professor at CSULB, explains the expansion plans. “We’ll be facing larger classes, so finding additional clinical sites will be challenging,” she said. “But every one is pretty geared up about the expansion. We are looking at teaching strategies to see if they’ll still work or if we need to adapt.”
Huckabay adds, “we’re not asking for a mansion here. All we need is a few classrooms.”