HPU Launches School of Nursing, Announces New Dean

HIGH POINT, N.C., Jan. 10, 2023 – High Point University announces it has established a School of Nursing that Dr. Racquel Ingram will lead as founding dean.

Ingram joined HPU’s Congdon School of Health Sciences in 2021 as founding chair and assistant professor for the Department of Nursing, where she worked to lay the groundwork for a nursing curriculum along with Drs. Daniel Erb, provost, and Kevin Ford, dean of HPU’s Congdon School of Health Sciences. The Bachelor of Science in nursing program welcomed its inaugural class in fall 2022.

While a nursing department typically offers undergraduate programs, establishing a School of Nursing provides opportunities for HPU to develop additional undergraduate and graduate-level programs. It becomes HPU’s 13th academic school.

“High Point University has an excellent reputation in establishing undergraduate and graduate-level degrees in health care education, and the School of Nursing is a continuation of our commitment to prepare graduates for the world as it will be,” said HPU President Dr. Nido Qubein. “The School of Nursing joins the Congdon School of Health Sciences, the Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy, the Workman School of Dental Medicine and the recently announced School of Optometry on our campus, with more programs and schools in development.”

“I am excited about the opportunities to expand our current pre-licensure program, and to create additional undergraduate and graduate-level nursing programs,” said Ingram. “Being an academic School of Nursing paves the way to create graduate-level programs in terms of having a more traditional organizational structure.”

More specifics about graduate-level programs and additional undergraduate programs will be announced in the near future, according to Ingram, who was elected chair of the North Carolina Board of Nursing with her one-year term starting Jan. 1.

Ingram has also chaired and served on several NCBON committees, assisted with regulatory processes, and participated in the development and accomplishment of strategic planning outcomes.

Ingram is an Amy V. Cockcroft Nurse Fellow in Nursing Leadership with 26 years of nursing experience, 23 years as a nurse educator with expertise in nursing curriculum and program development, and 19 years of nursing leadership. Since joining HPU, Ingram has assembled a staff of nurse educators who are committed to excellence and interdisciplinary care.

“We all are student-centered with high expectations regarding academic rigor, both theoretically and clinically,” said Ingram. “We are simultaneously excited about preparing the current student cohort, and those to come, for success as a safe, confident and competent practitioner.”

The inaugural cohort received their white coats on Oct. 29, 2022, during the then-Department of Nursing’s first White Coat Ceremony. The students will be training at local hospitals to gain real-world experience and will graduate in May 2024, during HPU’s Centennial Anniversary.

Piper Dillon, a nursing major from Aldie, Virginia, said she chose HPU because it’s a program where she can help pave the way for future nursing students.

“Thinking about the students coming in after us, we are able to help form the HPU nursing program through our experiences,” said Dillon. “I’m excited to shadow the registered nurses in the hospitals where we have clinicals to see what our future will look like and to learn more about their experiences in health care.”

The students have been learning in the 50,000-square-foot state-of-the-art nursing complex in Parkway Commons on campus. The complex includes a 16-bed skills lab with 14 diverse simulators modeling an acute care environment, as well as three high-fidelity simulation suites for adult health, pediatric and maternal/newborn.

“The School of Nursing has everything needed for success as a future nurse including student-centered nursing faculty and staff, an updated curriculum with the most current nursing essentials, state-of-the-art technology, fully equipped simulation suites, clinical partnerships with local health care organizations and a surplus of skills-training equipment,” said Ingram. “We are in process of adding graduate-level programs that will simultaneously exceed the more common standards.”

The importance of offering a School of Nursing was highlighted during the global pandemic and in the context of a national nursing shortage that is projected to increase significantly over the next 10 years.

“The HPU School of Nursing is committed to producing nurse graduates to positively impact the shortage, both locally and globally,” said Ingram. “Safe, confident and competent nurses are needed to meet the complex health care needs using an interdisciplinary approach and will simultaneously have the capabilities to practice at the top of the nursing scope and standards of practice.”      

Photos: 1) High Point University announces Dr. Racquel Ingram will serve as founding dean of HPU’s School of Nursing. She is pictured above in the center with nurse educators, from left, Lorrie Davis-Dick, Rachel Phelps, Pamela Rogers and Amber Scott. 2) Ingram is pictured at left working with students in the school’s 16-bed skills lab.