Westmont Downtown to House Nursing School
Westmont has purchased a four-story building in downtown Santa Barbara where it will launch a new nursing program in partnership with Cottage Health. The new nursing program will address the critical shortage of skilled nurses in Santa Barbara and throughout the region.
“Our rigorous academic environment educates the whole person, developing competent, compassionate graduates well-suited to work in cross-cultural settings,” says President Gayle D. Beebe. “We are incredibly grateful for Dave and Anna Grotenhuis and Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree, whose timely gifts have helped us make this building a permanent extension of Westmont in the heart of Santa Barbara.”
The Westmont Downtown building, 26 W. Anapamu Street, will continue to house the five centers on the top two floors that have been there since 2015, including the Center for Applied Technology (CATLab), the Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Westmont Initiative for Public Dialogue and Deliberation (WIPPD), Westmont Decision Lab and Westmont Hub (WestHUB).
“We have already measurably extended Westmont’s educational mission into the local community and will now seek to be one of the country’s premier nursing programs,” says Provost Mark Sargent. “The location provides an innovative solution to on-campus enrollment limitations and opens a window of opportunity to achieve dramatically more.”
The strategic partnership with Cottage Health, a system of hospitals and clinics serving the Central Coast, will provide state-of-the-art clinical training for our students and serve as an essential partner. Moreover, the connection with Cottage will help place our graduates in well-paid, meaningful positions.
Before we have even launched the program, Cottage has already offered $2 million for tuition assistance,” says Reed Sheard, Westmont vice president for advancement and information technology. “We are deeply thankful for their generosity, especially in the midst of a global pandemic.”
Westmont will renovate the bottom two floors to create a state-of-the-art facility designed to support the intense, team-based learning of an accelerated program. The convenient location, a mile from Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, will provide students with easy access to the simulation lab, internships and practica.
The Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, estimates a shortage of 44,000 California nurses by 2030.
“The need for highly trained nurses able to care for a diverse population has never been greater,” Sargent says. “We have thoughtfully created this new program to produce graduates who complement the existing nursing programs in the South Coast, including the two-year RN program from Santa Barbara City College and the four-year BSN program from CSU Channel Islands.
“The Christian liberal arts has the potential to graduate highly sought nurses from a learning environment that encourages servant leadership, while developing compassion and empathy.”
The purchase of the downtown building is expected to close escrow by December 31 with renovation of the bottom two floors expected in March. Westmont officials are hopeful the California Board of Registered Nursing will be able to visit the site in summer 2021 to begin the accreditation review process. With approval, Westmont’s goal is for 25-30 enrollees to begin the program in spring 2022.