College of Nursing Introduces the First Online PhD program at Rutgers University in Fall 2006, The

New Jersey Nurse, Mar/Apr 2006 by Rainer, Sharon

The College of Nursing will introduce the first online PhD program at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in fall 2006.

Rutgers College of Nursing developed the online program to attract doctoral candidates who are interested in enrolling in the nursing PhD program but can't attend a traditional classroom setting because of family and work demands, according to Wendy Nehring, associate dean for academic affairs.

"Over the past several years potential candidates were interested in enrolling in our PhD nursing program but found it difficult to come to the Newark campus for the course work," said Nehring, who is also director of the graduate program and associate professor. "Many of them wanted an online PhD program and we are responding to demand."

The only time doctoral students are required to come to the Newark campus will be for two weeks in August as a summer residency for the first three years, Nehring said. During the first year the online program software will be installed in the doctoral students' laptops. They will also be taught how to navigate the online courses and access Rutgers University resources such as email and the library during the two week session, besides learning about the program and beginning their course work.

From its headquarters at Rutgers Newark, Rutgers College of Nursing offers a broad range of academic programs on all three Rutgers campuses. The college offers a master's program with unique practitioner specialties and the only doctoral (PhD) nursing degree in New Jersey.