Fairfield University’s nationally ranked Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies has filled its summer cohorts for two nursing programs in Austin, Texas. In May, the campus will welcome its third cohort of second degree nursing students and its first cohort of nurse anesthesia doctoral students. The popularity of the programs signals Fairfield’s growing reputation within the state and local community.

Fairfield expanded into Austin last year, hosting a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony in June. Now, ten months after welcoming its first students, the Austin campus has reached full capacity for its May 2024 nursing cohorts and assembled a waitlist of qualified applicants.

“We entered Fairfield’s geographic expansion to Texas knowing that a Fairfield nursing education would benefit the state,” said Dean Meredith Wallace Kazer, PhD, APRN, FAAN. “We researched, made plans and decisions, built relationships, and added a touch of prayer with confidence that if we built it, students would come. And come they did.”  

Fairfield Egan entered the Austin market with its Accelerated Second Degree Nursing (ASDNU) program, leading to a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree. The full-time 15-month program, which has been in existence for more than 20 years at Fairfield, provided the quickest means of widening the pipeline of BSN-prepared nurses in Texas, a state whose deficit of registered nurses is expected to top 57,000 within the next eight years.

The first cohort of ASDNU students in Austin began their nursing education last summer and are now in their third semester. After softly launching the program in May 2023, the program grew rapidly. “We enrolled 20 new second degree nursing students in Jan. 2024 and are thrilled to enter the summer semester with a third, full cohort of second degree nursing students,” said Dean Kazer. The program has gained so much momentum that the waitlist for summer is as large as the second cohort.

While simultaneously nurturing its ASDNU program to success, the Egan School also worked to gain approval to offer its doctor of nursing practice (DNP) in nurse anesthesia at the new campus. The program would be the first and only nurse anesthesia concentration in Central Texas. After nearly a year of effort, the program expansion was approved on Jan. 25 by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA).

The first cohort of nurse anesthesia residents has been admitted and will start the program in May. Admission to the program in Texas was competitive: more than 120 applications were received for only 15 available spots.

The rapid growth and success of the Austin campus and its nursing programs will accelerate the community impact envisioned by Fairfield when it embarked upon its first geographical expansion. Dean Kazer awaits with confidence that impact: “We know our nursing students will graduate from our programs and contribute greatly to improving the health of the Texas population,” she said.

The Egan School is ranked #73 among graduate nursing schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Its DNP in Nurse Anesthesia is ranked #51.