50 and Fabulous!

Binghamton University never intended to launch a nursing school.

But a nationwide shortage of nurses and a lack of college-level nursing-education programs in the 1960s resulted in the State University of New York asking Binghamton to explore the establishment of a nursing program at the bachelor of science (BS) level in 1966.

The feasibility study verified that the University was an appropriate site for a nursing program and, before the year was out, a formal proposal for a school of nursing was written, an ad hoc committee was formed to develop the school and a health-education consultant was hired.

The early years

The proposed nursing school faced some challenges. Gaining approval from the University’s faculty required six Faculty Senate sessions, and the New York State Legislature turned down funding for the school in the 1967 supplemental and 1968 regular budgets. Finally, Binghamton’s nursing school opened in September 1969. It had a single four-year program leading to a BS in nursing, a handful of faculty, 17 students and a few rooms in Science 2. It was called, simply, the School of Nursing.

Despite some early difficulties integrating nursing students into a staunchly liberal arts university, the nursing school grew, and in May 1973, its first class of 20 students (three students had been added) graduated.

The same year, the BS in nursing program was accredited by the National League for Nursing, meaning that every nursing class at Binghamton has graduated from a fully accredited program.

Because funds were limited for the new school, the faculty began applying for grants almost immediately.

In 1975, a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission provided a springboard to begin a post-baccalaureate family nurse practitioner (FNP) certificate program — Binghamton’s program is one of the oldest in the country. The FNP program quickly evolved, and in 1977 the graduate nursing program was born, giving students the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in family nursing.

Other key funding in the school’s early years includes a $500,000 grant in 1982 to create the Robert Wood Johnson Teaching Nursing Home Program with Willow Point Nursing Home in Broome County to improve healthcare for nursing home residents; a series of grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ($5.1 million from 1985 to 2015) that launched the school’s programs in community health nursing; and a grant from the New York State Education Department in 1986 to create a Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program to increase the number of minority and educationally disadvantaged students in professional higher education.

And in 1989, the University received a gift that would forever change the School of Nursing when the Dr. G. Clifford and Florence B. Decker Foundation gave a $1 million endowment to the school. In recognition of this gift, the largest Binghamton had ever received at the time, the school was renamed the Decker School of Nursing.

The Decker Foundation also funded endowed professorships in community health nursing and rural nursing, as well as the development of the school’s Innovative Simulation and Practice Center. The Decker Foundation continues to support the University’s nursing programs in a variety of ways.

Led by several deans and interim deans, the Decker School of Nursing experienced significant growth over the next couple of decades. Undergraduate and graduate degree programs, certificates and minors were added, including the 1999 addition of a doctoral program in nursing with an emphasis on rural and underserved populations. At the time, it was the only PhD program in the world focused on rural nursing.

A number of initiatives were also launched, including AIDSNET, a computerized support system for homebound AIDS patients; the Alzheimer’s Disease Assistance Center (predecessor of the Elder Services Center); the O’Connor Office of Rural Health; the Kresge Center for Nursing Research; the Interdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Program; and the Healthy Practices Clinic.

Overall school enrollment continued to grow and so, too, did the number of faculty and staff. As a result, Decker would outgrow its space and move four times before finding its current home in Academic Building B.

Today

Half a century after the first students entered its only program, Decker has gained national recognition for the strength of its educational programs, the high caliber of its graduates, the quality of research conducted by its faculty and students, and its forward-thinking use of simulation in nursing education.

The college offers degree programs from the baccalaureate to the doctorate (see sidebar), and not just in nursing. Decker also has programs in public health, and health and wellness studies, and is launching programs in applied health and rehabilitation therapies. As a result, the school changed its name early this fall to Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences to better reflect its programming and direction.

Over 100 faculty and staff are employed by Decker College. Many faculty are doctorally prepared and have published research publications in peer-reviewed journals. Faculty have also been recognized with numerous state and national awards, including induction as fellows in the American Academy of Nursing. Additionally, Decker established a visiting professor program and is proud to have world-renowned nurse theorist Rosemarie Rizzo Parse on the faculty.

Faculty researchers also continue to be recipients of federal funding, including a series of grants from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Advanced Nursing Education Workforce Program, which aims to increase the number of nurse practitioners who practice in rural and underserved areas. During the summer, the college was named the recipient of another, $2.8 million HRSA grant for this program.

Earlier this year, Decker was awarded a 10-year reaccreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education with no recommendations, denoting the highest level of accreditation that can be achieved.

The college’s Innovative Simulation and Practice Center is accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and was the first nursing school in New York to achieve this accreditation. Simulations are built into all graduate and undergraduate clinical course curricula and ensure every student has the opportunity to experience important patient interactions they may not have during a traditional clinical experience.

But most important, more than 6,000 individuals around the world now call themselves Decker nurses and are serving their communities as leading clinicians, researchers, educators and administrators.

Tomorrow

By expanding into a college of nursing and health sciences, Decker is laying a foundation for the future.

The Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences encompasses the Decker School of Nursing, the School of Rehabilitation Sciences and the School of Applied Health Sciences. Rehabilitation science programs include the new physical therapy program, which Decker expects to launch in 2021 or 2022, as well as programs in occupational therapy and speech-language pathology that will begin in the 2022–23 timeframe. Applied science programs, which will also be developed in the next couple of years, will be offered in health sciences with concentrations in areas such as forensic health, health promotion, health education, nutrition, athletic training and exercise science.

Additionally, Decker is moving some of its degree programs online and should begin offering those in 2020.

To ensure Decker has adequate space to accommodate expanded programs and increased faculty, staff and students, in 2020 the college will move into its own 113,000-square-foot building on the University’s 13-acre Health Sciences Campus in Johnson City. With 15,000 square feet of space — the entire second floor — Decker’s Innovative Simulation and Practice Center will be able to expand its offering of simulation training to hospital personnel and other healthcare professionals in the area who can benefit from these educational experiences but don’t have their own simulation facilities.

The school is also working with Lourdes Hospital to launch the Ford Family Senior Care Center, an eldercare clinic on the University’s Health Sciences Campus. This center, which will encompass the work being performed in Decker’s Elder Services Center, is expected to open in fall 2020.

Under the leadership of Dean Mario Ortiz, Decker will continue to adapt its programming and services to meet the rising need for nurses and other allied health professionals, a need that will only grow as the population continues to age.