The Council of Academic Affairs will again be focusing on both the new nursing program curriculum and the new proposed grading scale change Thursday during its 2 p.m. meeting in the 4440 room of Booth Library. 

The council will be acting on 21 different items pertaining to course selections and options for the new nursing program announced by Provost Jay Gatrell on Aug. 20.

Currently, Eastern offers an RN to BSN degree, allowing students who are already registered nurses to obtain their Bachelor of Science in nursing degree.

With the new program, prospective high school students will have the opportunity to start and finish their nursing degree at Eastern.

Potential courses for the new program include 19 new courses and one revised course.

New classes being voted on will include NUR 1511 Pathways, NUR 2822 Health Assessment, NUR 2823 Intro Health and Illness, NUR 3833 Mental and Behavioral Health, NUR 3835 Foundations of Nursing, NUR 4412 Health Systems, NUR 4534 Population-Based Care and NUR 4735 Advanced Concepts.

The new program will also prepare future nurses for the real-life application of their degrees with classes like NUR 3813 Evidence Guided Practice and NUR 4513 Transition to Practice.

Along with this, the council will vote on NUR 2613 Medical Terminology, a revised course.

Lastly, the council will vote on Pathophysiologic Concepts 1 and 2 (NUR 2612 and NUR 3612), Therapeutic Pharmacology 1 and 2 (NUR 2712 and NUR 3712), Professional Development 1, 2 and 3 (NUR 3423, NUR 3513 and NUR 4413 respectively) and Management of Health 1 and 2 (NUR 3836 and NUR 4636).

Along with the new nursing program, the council will entertain a motion to act upon the new GPA proposal.

In its Aug. 29 meeting, the council heard a proposal from Richard England, dean of the Sandra and Jack Pine Honors College, and Josh Norman, associate vice president for enrollment management, to drop the word “unweighted” from the course catalog.

By allowing prospective students to have their weighted GPA considered for admissions, they will be open and able to receive more scholarships than previously available to them.

Lastly, the council will discuss adding HTM 1275: HTM Practicum, a revised course, to the agenda.

Emilie Bowman can be reached at 581-2812 or ejbowman@eiu.edu