High Needs Nursing grant awarded

State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor John B. King Jr. recently announced SUNY Orange and SUNY Empire will receive $100,000 to create a collaborative Nursing Pathway Innovation Hub using monies provided via the state’s High Needs Nursing Fund.

The initiative is a joint effort between SUNY Orange’s Health Professions division, SUNY Orange Plus’ workforce development branch and SUNY Empire, designed to strengthen academic mobility and student progress across the nursing education continuum. While many nursing programs are addressing enrollment challenges, this proposal focuses on a different and pressing statewide need — optimizing nursing program capacity and ensuring that qualified learners move efficiently from entry-level healthcare training through RN licensure and BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) completion.

“As we noted in our grant proposal, the hub will serve as a strategic bridge, aligning workforce development certification programs, associate-degree nursing education, and SUNY Empire’s BSN completion pathways to model system integration, shared student tracking, and co-enrollment innovation,” said Mayda Gonzalez-Bosch, SUNY Orange academic associate vice president for the health professions. “This is a bold, system-aligned commitment to advancing nursing education within SUNY, and it will show how shared resources, integrated data and coordinated academics can address workforce gaps while enhancing student success and mobility.

“We recognize that this is an ambitious and transformative effort—one that will require sustained, multi-year support to achieve its goals,” she added. “Continued investment and collaboration will not only strengthen opportunities for SUNY Orange and SUNY Empire students but also enhance their educational experiences. It will also serve as a replicable model across the SUNY system, advancing SUNY’s mission of innovation, equity, and excellence in healthcare education.”

“This partnership creates a clear, supported path from certification to bachelor’s degree — exactly what working nursing students need,” said Carol DeNysschen, dean of the College of Health and Human Services at SUNY Empire. “By meeting students where they are and removing barriers between institutions, we’re helping more nurses advance their education and their careers without putting their lives on hold.”

Key elements of the SUNY Orange-SUNY Empire hub include:

* Integrated academic pathways between the institutions that align workforce certification programs, associate-degree nursing education, and RN-to-BSN completion pathways.

* Shared advising and data infrastructure, including a Nursing Pathways Dashboard to track student progression and inform data-driven decision-making.

* Creation/expansion of bridge programs and microcredentials to support non-credit and waitlisted students transitioning into for-credit nursing programs.

* RN–BSN co-enrollment and dual advising, allowing RN students to begin BSN coursework in their final semester at SUNY Orange.

* Faculty and advisor collaboration, including shared professional development in universal design for learning (UDL), simulation instruction, and evidence-based teaching practices.

Gonzalez-Bosch added that the project is designed as a scalable and sustainable model, with long-term integration into institutional operations and the potential for replication across other SUNY campuses. Ultimately, the Nursing Pathway Innovation Hub aims to strengthen system coordination, accelerate upward mobility for nursing students, and contribute meaningfully to addressing healthcare workforce needs across the state.

For more information on the institutions’ nursing programs, log onto www.sunyorange.edu and www.sunyempire.edu.