The Kansas Wesleyan University nursing program is fully accredited once again.

In a letter from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education delivered to both KWU President and CEO Matt Thompson, and Director of Nursing Education and Chair, Division of Nursing and Health Science Janeane Houchin, the nursing board certified the program for a period of five years retroactive to last April, when the CCNE conducted a site visit on campus.

The accreditation was certified as unconditional, meaning the program met all guidelines and requirements at 100 percent.

Thompson announced the accreditation to students, faculty, and staff Friday in the Student Activities Center.

Thompson said the accreditation was a team effort by Houchin and the entire faculty and staff of the Nursing Education Department. He said it has been a priority, and extremely important, to KWU to achieve the voluntary accreditation for the benefit of our students, and the long-term future of the nursing program.

“This is great news for our students,” Thompson said, “and even better news for the medical community in Salina and the surrounding area as we help to alleviate a critical shortage of nurses.”

Thompson heaped praise on the nursing education staff on campus, and gratitude for the many people and organizations – particularly Salina Regional Health Center – for their support and assistance in revamping the program, and achieving accreditation.

Houchin said the benefit of the accreditation will go to her students.

“They have worked so hard, and believed in their education. Now they get to see the fruits of that labor, and that belief,” she said.

The CCNE provides a voluntary accreditation process, while the university itself is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The Kansas Board of Nursing for the last two years provided the program with a conditional approval.

The decision comes three years after the university voluntarily withdrew its accreditation as a means of fortifying and revamping the nursing education program.

The program began the application process for voluntary accreditation through CCNE in April 2017. In addition to a self-study, a site-visit team conducted a visit last April.

Nursing has been a signature program at KWU for decades, and it is a major funnel for health care professionals in Salina and north central Kansas.