NWFSC Nursing Expansion to Help Meet Local Demand for Health Care Providers
Health sciences careers are in high demand, and Northwest Florida State College is rising to meet the moment with a more than $40 million expansion of its nursing program.
A new, top-tier learning facility slated to open in May at the main Niceville campus will provide students the competitive edge necessary in today’s job market, here on the Emerald Coast and beyond.
The two women steering the expansion — Health Sciences Dean Dr. Charlotte Kuss and Director of Nursing Dr. Tanya Beauregard — say the work is as exciting as it is challenging.
“We’re excited to offer these opportunities to more people and provide more high-level, qualified providers to our community as it’s growing,” Kuss said. “Healthcare is such an important part of the infrastructure of a community.”
Financed by state education funds and a $21.7 million Triumph Gulf Coast grant awarded in 2023, the project will set the nursing program on a path to double enrollment by 2026.
For Kuss and Beauregard, both of whom bring decades of nursing education to their positions, it’s a labor of love.
“We have a very relational program,” Beauregard said. “We spend so much time with our students, and they seek us out, coming in to talk about what’s happening in their lives.”
As a result, every decision about the new learning spaces — from furniture to faculty — is being made with those relationships in mind.
The new building will feature spacious collaboration rooms, study rooms and areas where students can simply hang out.
“That helps build community,” Kuss said. “Students can get overwhelmed by everything they have to know and do, and if they can develop relationships, they’ll have an easier time getting through the program.”
Kuss and Beauregard’s own professional relationship has proven equally valuable while navigating the program’s expansion.
“We would not be nearly to this point or nearly this effective if we didn’t have each other through this process,” Kuss said.
The new facility will also boost the nursing program’s already robust virtual reality instructional enhancements that allow students to immerse themselves in patient care before ever practicing in a hospital.
“They’re not intimidated at all because it’s like gaming,” Beauregard said. “They’re leaving the rooms much, much more enthusiastic about what they’re doing.”
Students practice assessing patients, communicating therapeutically with patients and administering medication. They can also progress to simulations for mental health, obstetrics, pediatrics and medically complex patients.
Kuss said she sees the nursing expansion elevating all four tracks of the health sciences program, which includes radiography, physical therapist assistant and medical laboratory technology.
The most important part of who we are is that we are a team that deeply cares about student success,” she said. “We want to help people reach their goals and dreams.”
