Study at Fort Lewis College. Earn a CU Nursing degree.
The University of Colorado College of Nursing (CU Nursing) at the Anschutz Medical Campus and Fort Lewis College (FLC) have announced a first-of-its-kind partnership to create a four-year undergraduate degree in nursing, bringing the state’s flagship medical institute of higher education to the rural and Indigenous-serving campus of Southwest Colorado.
Ushering in a new model of health and collaboration, FLC and CU Nursing are combining hands-on, culturally sensitive, patient-centered healthcare with the latest trends in medicine, like telehealth, which is an immediate need in rural communities around Durango.
With a philosophy of bringing nursing out of the hospitals and into communities to provide healthcare to a rural and diverse population that has been historically underserved, the program will be one of the most cutting-edge nursing degree options offered at a Colorado institution of higher education.
By locating the program at FLC, a new pathway unfolds for students in the Four Corners area to earn their bachelor’s degree and then return to their home communities with the healthcare expertise that rural underserved areas need.
The curriculum will be similar to the CU Nursing Traditional BS in Nursing pathway study plan.
A Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in nursing provides a wide variety of career choices. Upon successful completion of the BS nursing program and the national licensure examination (NCLEX), baccalaureate prepared nurses are able to choose from a wide variety of practice settings.
Additionally, unlike graduates prepared with an associate degree in nursing, bachelor's prepared nurses are able to pursue advanced degrees in nursing including careers as an adult or pediatric nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, nurse midwife or certified nurse anesthetist. Doctorate level education is also possible for bachelors prepared nurses who wish to pursue a PhD or DNP (doctor of nursing practice).
Examples of potential practice areas for a bachelor of science graduate include:
- Providing patient care in the hospital settings (the most popular choice of nursing graduates).
- Caring for patients in community based settings.
- Providing nursing leadership through nursing management positions.
- Pursuing a nursing career at Magnet designated hospital facilities.
- Providing nursing care to individuals, families and communities internationally.
- Working in clinical research by coordinating human subject studies.
- Helping shape future nursing clinicians through teaching opportunities.
View the BS Alumni Report 2016 to see which positions and settings
our undergraduate alumni move on to following graduation.
For more information on the wide variety of career options available to BS in nursing graduates, please visit the Johnson and Johnson Discovering Nursing website.
1. Integrate, translate, and apply evolving knowledge from nursing and other healthcare disciplines across a range of settings.
2. Provide collaborative person-centered care that is empowering, inclusive, holistic, respectful, compassionate, just, evidence-based and developmentally appropriate across the care continuum.
3. Collaborate with diverse populations and communities in traditional and nontraditional partnerships, including public health, global health, environmental justice, academia, health care, and local government entities, for the prevention of disease and the improvement of equitable population health outcomes.
4. Integrate evidence-based practice through the application and dissemination of nursing knowledge and to improve patient outcomes and transform health care.
5. Incorporate established and emerging principles of quality and safety as core values to enhance quality of care and minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through system effectiveness and individual performance.
6. Demonstrates effective use of communication and collaboration when partnering with intra- and interprofessional teams, patients, families, and communities to optimize care and enhance healthcare outcomes.
7. Apply systems-based thinking to respond to complex healthcare environments, ethically, effectively and proactively, coordinating resources to provide safe, quality and equitable care to diverse populations including those impacted by social determinants of health.
8. Uses informatics processes and healthcare technologies to gather data, inform decision-making, provide high-quality, efficient and safe care, and support professionals as they expand knowledge and wisdom for practice in accordance with best practice and professional and regulatory standards.
9. Cultivate a professional identity that aligns with sustainable, collaborative, and accountable professional behaviors, reflecting the core values of nursing.
Tuition and Financial Aid
While taking Nursing pre-requisite curriculum students will pay Fort Lewis College tuition rates and have the ability to receive the Native American Tuition waiver or other grants/scholarships available through Fort Lewis College.
CU Nursing Collaborative admitted students will pay the required tuition and fees as a CU Nursing student. More information about the tuition and cost of attendance is available online.
Scholarship Support
FLC and CU Nursing have the support of many donors who are invested in the success of students enrolled. To that end, the application for admission will include an opportunity for students to apply for scholarships.
Students at FLC who are receiving the Native American Tuition Waiver will receive scholarship support at CU Nursing to cover the tuition cost (fees not included).
Fort Lewis College Starts Construction on Nursing Facility
The groundbreaking marks a major milestone in the CU Nursing Fort Lewis College Collaborative. Skyhawk Hall will be home to the nursing program and will have new technology and a simulation lab. This allows us to expand our excellent nursing education to Southwest Colorado.