School of Nursing at Leading Edge of Online Open House

If you want to recruit students to your program, it makes sense to go to where they are.

In the case of the School of Nursing’s doctoral programs, that place is online.

The nursing school, which offers both Ph.D. and D.N.P. programs online, will host an hour long virtual open house on Thursday, Dec. 5, starting at 4 p.m. Other Duquesne programs, particularly those offering online graduate programs, will soon stage online open houses, keeping Duquesne University at the leading edge of this trend, said Dr. Ruth Newberry, online campus director.

For nursing’s virtual open house, attendees will find the difference between the two nursing doctorate degrees is available on the website, along with technical information that allows for smooth sign-on to the event.

“We recruit from all over the country, and typically, students would be in touch with only one faculty member,” said Dean Mary Ellen Glasgow, explaining the impetus for organizing the event. “This is a very efficient  and effective way for students to listen to all the key players in the process.”

Nursing’s virtual event will feature faculty presentations from:

  • Glasgow, dean and professor
  • Dr. Alison Colbert, assistant professor and chair of graduate programs
  • Dr. Rick Zoucha, professor and coordinator of the Ph.D. program
  • Dr. Bonnie Dean, assistant professor and coordinator of the DNP program
  • Dr. Betsy Guimond, clinical assistant professor
  • Susan Hardner, nursing recruiter.

With entire degrees as well as courses online, Newberry sees online open houses as becoming more prevalent. For instance, the educational leadership doctorate (ProDEL) will host an online open house Tuesday, Jan. 7, and others are being scheduled for the coming year, Newberry said. Like the nursing open house, these will be archived on the web for those who miss the live virtual event.

“I see this as a new standard we would want to do with most online programs, particularly those at the graduate level,” Newberry said. “We don’t know how a prospective student will find us, and we have to have multiple points of entry for prospective students to learn about us. We have to be attuned to multiple ways to get the message out.”