News and Events : School of Health Sciences : Simmons College

Name Change for the School for Health Studies

The Simmons Board of Trustees has approved a name change from the School for Health Studies to the School of Health Sciences. This new name will recognize the broad scope of the health profession and allied disciplines. It does not change any of the existing programs within the school.

New DPT Application Process

SHS will participate in the PTCAS(Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service) for the next application cycle for entry into the DPT program in summer 2009. A Simmons supplemental application is required. Applicants should plan to take the GRE and TOEFL as soon as possible so that SHS receives official scores on time. The aplication deadline for entry to summer 2009 is December 1,2008 PTCAS can be found www.ptcas.org

New DNP Program beginning in September 2008

The School of Health Sciences and the Department of Nursing are pleased to announce that the Simmons Board of Trustees has approved the Nursing Department's proposal for a post-master's Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) will soon be the required terminal degree by the nursing accrediting bodies for all advanced practice roles, including nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, nurse anesthetist, and nursing administrator. This new practice doctorate will better prepare nurses in these roles to care for the increasing numbers of patients who are living longer with more complex illnesses. The Simmons DNP is similar to the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Degree, which was approved by the Trustees several years ago.

The nursing doctorate program will begin as a post-master's program with three specialty tracks: clinical practice, education, and administration. Courses will be taught using a blended learning model of on-line and on-campus (two week-ends per semester)teaching. Core courses for all tracks include health policy, nursing informatics, ethical and legal issues, leadership and management, applied research, epidemiology and biostatistics, and a capstone scholarly project. Students who apply to the program will be able to individualize their curriculum requirements, based on the portfolio submitted as part of the application process.

2007 Achievement Awards

The Distinquished Alumna Award was awarded to Nancy Clark,'73, a graduate of our nutrition program.

Janet Sweeney Rico, a faculty member in the nursing department received the Linda Roemer Award for Distinquished Community Service.

Dr. Sarah Volkman, nursing faculty member was honored with the Scholarly Excellence Award.

Dr. Sari Edelstein of the nutrition department received the Outstanding Teach Award, based on nominations and voting by a panel of current SHS undergraduate and graduate students.

Other News

A national center on hygiene and health in the home and community, aimed at helping the public better understand how to minimize the growing risk of infections acquired in the community, has been established at Simmons College in Boston. Read more... .

U.S. News & World Report ranks Simmons D.P.T. program in Top 25 nationwide

The Program in Physical Therapy was ranked in the top 25 nationwide by U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News based its rankings on two broad types of data expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators that describe the strength of a school's faculty, its research, and the performance of students as they enter and they leave.

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