HATTIESBURG, MISS– Want to work in healthcare? Southern Miss’s graduate nursing program has been named best in the state and among the best in the country.
For Dr. Melanie Gilmore, Associate Professor in the program, the ranking is no surprise.
“It’s because of the reputation of the nurses that leave the program,” says Gilmore, “they leave and go to work in family medicine, anesthesiology, mental illness, and they stay in Mississippi.”
Gilmore says that a bachelor’s degree in nursing puts you as a registered nurse or RN, but the graduate program is for those who want more.
“Nurse practitioners,” says Gilmore, “and we’ve had them go into family medicine, psychiatric medicine, and higher administration.”
Gilmore says in recent years the nursing program has exploded. Southern Miss has recently started building the new nursing building, Ashbury Hall, which is set to open Summer 2016.