March 09, 2010
Susan Winters heads regional nursing program
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Susan Cramer Winters, a registered nurse with a doctorate in nursing, has been named director of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Regional Nursing Program located on the SIU Carbondale campus.
Last year, the SIUE School of Nursing joined forces with SIUC to address a statewide nursing shortage in opening the regional nursing program at SIUC. Beginning in August, more than 80 freshmen were accepted at Carbondale as pre-nursing students.
Winters, a nursing educator for nearly 20 years, comes to SIUE after serving as a member of nursing faculties at McKendree University in Lebanon and at John A. Logan College in Carterville. She also has held several positions at the University of Virginia Medical Center, including education coordinator and as a clinician specializing in cardiovascular nursing.
For SIUE, Winters has responsibility for all facets of the nursing program at the regional campus location. “This collaborative endeavor between SIUC and the SIUE School of Nursing is truly a win-win-win situation for SIUC, SIUE, and perhaps most importantly, for Southern Illinois,” Winters said.
“Prior to this point, any student in the area who wished to pursue a traditional BSN degree had to leave the area. To have an accredited program of the SIUE School of Nursing’s caliber available in Carbondale is deeply thrilling,” she said. “I look forward to our graduates contributing to the health of the Southern Illinois region, and I relish the opportunity to bring the program to life in Carbondale.”
SIUE Nursing Dean Marcia Maurer said Winters is eminently qualified for her leadership role in developing a presence in Carbondale for the SIUE nursing program. “Susan is the face of the SIUE School of Nursing at the Carbondale campus and serves as the liaison between not only the two campuses, but the key constituents involved in our program.
“After several years as a resident of Carbondale and because of her excellent credentials, Susan is well-positioned to lead our efforts in Southern Illinois,” Maurer said. “She knows the area and can work well with health care facilities in finding clinical placements for our students.”
Through the partnership, SIUE nursing faculty teach classes at Carbondale, while other select classes are offered via tele-education between the two campuses. The SIUE nursing faculty also is providing clinical supervision of the nursing students in the Carbondale area. “The Carbondale region is rich with clinical sites for students to obtain valuable experiences; this is a significant part of a nursing program’s curriculum,” Maurer pointed out.
Since the SIUE School of Nursing -- fully accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education -- is the official home of the program, a BSN would be conferred by SIUE even though a student is taking program classes at SIU Carbondale, Maurer explained.
“Admission to the nursing program at SIUE is competitive; the same criteria will be in place for applying students at the Carbondale campus,” Maurer said. “The number of students accepted will be contingent not only on academic strength but on the capacity of the clinical sites. Students who are not admitted may re-apply in the next academic year or change to one of the many health care majors offered at SIUE or SIUC.”
Winters and her husband, Todd, as well as their two children, Sloan and Luke, reside in Carbondale. Winters’ office is located in Room 278E of the SIUC Student Health Center; she may be reached by telephone, 618/453-4401, or e-mail:suwinte@siue.edu. Her office hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.