KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Nursing will be admitting a full class of new nursing students for the fall semester.

The program announced in December that it would cut its enrollment of new undergraduate nursing students in half, facing a proposed $450,000 budget reduction.

Next week, 98 students will receive acceptance letters to formally begin the program in August.

“We recognize the need for well-trained nurses in Tennessee and our role in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs in the state,” said Interim Provost Susan Martin. “As we engaged in budget planning over the past few months, the nursing program emerged as one of our top priorities. We worked hard to form a plan that would allow the program to maintain a consistent class size and teach and graduate as many students as possible.”

Several strategies led to the resolution, which include new partnerships with area hospitals to expand the clinical instructor-student ratio, development of more online courses for upper division courses and other initiatives that will allow the college to serve more students long term.

The Knoxville campus has been preparing for a $25.6 million budget reduction in state appropriations. UT administrators are, however, optimistic that the stimulus funds will reduce the required cuts for the 2010 fiscal year. UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek has committed to using stimulus funds to preserve faculty and lessen the impact on students.

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Contact:

Kristi Hintz (865-974-3993, khintz@utk.edu)

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