LUMBERTON — Robeson Community College trustees voted unanimously on Monday to support the expansion of the nursing program.
Nursing Director Eva Meekins made the request for support of the expansion during the board’s regular meeting after giving a presentation on the program’s success rate. She told the trustees that the program has had a 100 percent student pass rate for the National Council Licensure Examination from 2015 to 2017, surpassing the national average of 90 percent.
“With these numbers, we think we are ready for a program extension,” Meekins said.
The department’s current student capacity is 82. There are 78 students students currently enrolled. Meekins said with the addition of the paramedic to registered nurse and the licensed practical nurse to RN programs, the enrollment is at capacity. She wants to expand the capacity to 100 students.
“That’s a 21.9 percent increase,” Meekins said. “We wanted to go up 28 seats but we have to make sure we have the resources to support the growth.”
Meekins said that there is a statewide and national need need for nurses.
“The national nurse vacancy rate — in North Carolina we’re higher — is 8.1 percent,” Meekins said. “So the take-home message is this would be smart growth.”
The steps for expansion are to get the RCC trustees’ support, contact clinical resources and complete a rotation schedule, submit an application to the N.C. Board of Nursing 30 days before the proposed date of expansion, and await approval.
“We’re looking at bringing those new paramedics to RN students and those LPN to RN students in April,” Meekins said. “Our clock is ticking.”
Meekins said that for now, the growth of the program woulf run with adjunct staff, but in the future the board should consider hiring permanent instructors. She’s looking to have the expansion approved for the fall 2019-20 semester.
In other expansion news, the board learned that the Welding Department received a $175,000 grant from the Cannon Foundation that will allow the insertion of eight more welding booths. Currently there are 14 booths and 22 students.
“We’ve had to double-up students at booths,” said William Locklear, RCC’s assistant vice president of Student Services.
With the growth in welding, Locklear asked the board to consider adding a two-year associate’s degree program and to support the two-year plan to add 20 more booths to the department in order to produce more competitive workers for the career field.
“The need is there and the employment is there, and we think they can get the jobs,” Locklear said. “It’s a great program with a lot of potential to grow.”
“These are two very different programs but we have so much room for expansion,” RCC President Kimberly Gold said. “There’s students out there and there’s jobs out there.”
In other business, the board approved the recommendations to hire Petrena Benton Elliot as the interim vice president of Instruction and Support, Elena Locklear as an admission specialist, and Jordan Jones as a College and Career advisor.
