Nursing program hires acting director

Lesley Young-Lewis, RN, PhD, who assisted Trent and Fleming in developing the proposal for a new joint nursing program, has been hired as its acting director from January through July 2001 on secondment from Ryerson Polytechnic University.

The partnership between Trent University and Fleming College will offer students the ability to attain a baccalaureate in nursing (B.Sc.N.) which will be the new minimum academic requirement for nursing registration and licensure with the College of Nurses of Ontario effective January 1, 2005.

The Trent - Fleming Nursing Program is an integrated, collaborative four-year program leading to B.Sc.N. with a unique emphasis on gerentology, aboriginal and community nursing.

Students will take courses from both institutions. Trent will provide courses in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, and Fleming will provide courses in nursing theory and nursing practice.

The start date for this new joint program is September 2001. This is an exciting new initiative for this community and will help to guarantee a nursing workforce for the future, as the health care needs of the Peterborough area residents develop and change.

Dr. Young-Lewis has a specialization in maternal-child nursing, with research/clinical interests in transitions throughout women's life and women's health. She has worked at Ryerson as an Associate Professor, School of Nursing, since 1997. She attained her PhD (Nursing) in 1996 at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. She has her B.Sc.N. and M.Sc.N. from the University of Toronto.

Young-Lewis is currently Chair, Nursing Research Interest Group, RNAO (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario) and President-elect of the Canadian Association of Nurse Researchers.

Students apply to the program through the Ontario College Application Centre.