The final Baccalaureate graduating class of 2024 to have learned in the hallowed halls of Gowan Hall had a celebratory finish with a 94% NCLEX (RN Board Exam) first-time test taker pass rate. Congratulations to Dr. Eileen Caulfield, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, faculty, and staff for your outstanding leadership and mentorship of this special class.
Reflecting on our deep gratitude to Mr. Bill Conway and his late beloved wife, Joanne, we welcomed the class of 2028 as the first class to study in the new building starting in their freshman year!! Sr. Olivia Gowan, the first Dean of the School of Nursing in 1932 must have been smiling down on us from heaven!
On the first day of the semester, August 26, 2024, students were seen walking in wonder in and out of classrooms, study areas, meeting rooms, and labs admiring all of the beautiful new spaces where they will be learning. My sincere thanks go to Dean Emerita, Patricia McMullen who worked with Debra Nauta-Rodriguez, Associate Vice President for Facilities and University Architect, and Thomas Striegel, Director of Design Planning and Management, and other university leaders in Facilities Planning and Management to design this building. Highlights include:
- Bright, open sunlit floors with breathtaking views of the campus and Basilica
- Carol Ann Thompson Rossi BSN ’75 Auditorium
- Tiered Classroom
- Interactive Classroom with computer monitors at each table for recording group work
- Microbiology and Anatomy and Physiology Labs
- Tower classrooms/seminar rooms with spectacular views of the campus
- 8 High Fidelity Hospital Rooms
- 6 Primary Care Examination Rooms
- Home health simulation room
- 2 simulated Emergency Departments with 17 open practice bays and 3 enclosed bays for isolated patient simulations
- Simulation debriefing rooms
- Recording studio
In addition to undergraduate students streaming through each floor this week, a group of Pediatric Nurse Practitioner students were onsite going through various simulations. In one interdisciplinary simulation, a child has been severely injured in a car accident. The nurse practitioners call the hospital chaplain, graciously portrayed by our own Father Hugh Vincent Dyer, O.P. from Campus Ministry. After the simulation, both the students and faculty stated how much they learned about the support provided by the chaplain during times of crisis and how the Conway School of Nursing is unique in its consistent focus on the whole person and the whole family; mind, body, and spirit.
