Oakland, CA - Mills College will host a half-day conference, “Every Nurse A Leader,” on Saturday, November 18, 2006. Designed for students in the 2+2 Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program, the event will feature professional nurses sharing their experiences, and opportunities for area pre-nursing students from Mills College, Holy Names University, and St. Mary’s College to meet students in the clinical nursing program at Samuel Merritt College.

The event will be held from 9:00 am–1:30 pm on the Mills campus at 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland CA 94613. 

Patricia McFarland, RN, executive director of the Association of California Nurse Leaders, will give the keynote address. In addition, case studies will be presented in small group sessions to demonstrate the importance of leadership skills in everyday nursing.

Colleges participating with Mills in the conference are Holy Names University, Saint Mary’s College, and Samuel Merritt College.

The nursing leadership conference is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. For more information, call 510.430.3227 or visit  www.mills.edu/nursing.

By preparing future nurses for leadership roles, Mills is at the forefront of addressing the nursing shortage in California and nationwide. California ranks 50th nationwide in the number of registered nurses per capita, with more than 20% fewer nurses than the national average, according to The Registered Nurse Population (U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration, March 2006).

The Mills Nursing Leadership Program (NLP) builds on students’ coursework in the College’s pre-nursing (“2+2”) program established in Fall 2005 as an intercollegiate Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program with Samuel Merritt College. Students who satisfactorily complete two years of undergraduate science and liberal arts requirements in the Pre-Nursing Program at Mills College (minimum 3.0 GPA) are guaranteed admission to Samuel Merritt College, where they then complete their hospital-based nursing education requirements toward the BSN.

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently recognized as one of the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills currently ranks among the top 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges.

This year, the Washington Monthly College Rankings (September 2006) named Mills a leading liberal arts college based on community service, research spending, quality of preparation for graduate education, and social mobility. In addition, The Princeton Review’s annual guide, the Best 361 Colleges (2007) included Mills for the second year in a row among top U.S. institutions offering students an outstanding undergraduate education.
 
Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

PRESS CONTACTS:
Deborah Dallinger
Communications Consultant
925.788.9131 deborahd13@comcast.net

Renee Jadushlever
Vice President, Information Resources
510.430.2033 reneejad@mills.edu