Butler University will be starting a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing program in the fall of 2025 as part of its College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Butler University, nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report for its pharmacy, physician assistant and pre-med programs, has never before offered a nursing program.
Former University of Indianapolis Assistant Professor of Nursing and current Butler University Assistant Professor of Nursing and Simulation Coordinator Krista Searles said the timing of Butler creating a nursing program was in response to the nursing shortage in Indiana. She said given Butler’s well-respected programs within the health sciences field, having a nursing program seemed like a “natural fit.”
“Butler is really working to develop programs that help meet the needs of the local community, so I think that was why they [Butler University] decided to go in this direction,” Searles said.
According to Vivian Health, enrollment in 4-year nursing degree programs is down, falling to fewer than 100,000 students nationally. Despite this, Searles said she is not concerned about filling the 48 seats for which Butler’s program has been approved in its inaugural year.
“Across Indiana every year there are hundreds, if not thousands, of fully-qualified students that apply for nursing programs that get turned down because there’s not enough room, so I would be really surprised if we don’t fill all of our seats,” Searles said.
UIndy Associate Dean of Nursing Cynthia Bowers said she attributes the decreased enrollment to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Nurse.org, the enrollment in 4-year BSN programs was consistently increasing for 20 years and began to decrease in the 2021-2022 school year.
Bowers said she does not believe Butler’s new nursing program will cause a further decrease in UIndy’s nursing enrollment. She said UIndy’s program has valuable connections locally, statewide and nationally.
“The good thing for UIndy is that we are very well-established with our hospital partners locally and statewide,” Bowers said. “… Being competitive is also a good thing, I think that keeps us all on our toes and makes sure that what we’re teaching is fresh.”
While Butler may have already claimed one of UIndy’s own faculty members, Bowers said she is not concerned about the possibility of losing more and that the position that became open was filled almost immediately. Bowers said the hardest part about faculty leaving is narrowing down the pool of qualified applicants and choosing the best person for the job.
Searles said she has no bad blood with UIndy, and jokingly said she chose to join Butler because it was only five minutes from her house. She added that it was a really hard decision, because UIndy felt like her family and like home after being here for so long.
“Leaving all of you was hard, but ultimately it was an opportunity to do something new and big and exciting to come here and start this new program,” Searles said. “Nursing programs are not like a competition. If we can all have a great nursing program that produces a great nurse, then that’s the goal.”
Bowers said there are many reasons prospective students choose different nursing programs. She said she has been with UIndy for 10 years, and hopes others love it as much as she does.
“I hope they would pick us for the same reason that I stay,” Bowers said. “I like our smaller campus feel, more of a family feel. I have a great faculty team who love their students and work really hard to make sure students get what they need when they need it, and are able to pay a little extra care to the students that might need a little bit extra.”
