ATC Spotlight
Piedmont Athens Regional Donates $250,000 to Athens Technical College Nursing Program
Date: Feb 21,2022
Gift will support faculty salaries and expansion to Walton Campus
Athens, GA. – Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center has again partnered with Athens Technical College in an updated Memorandum of Understanding and $250,000 gift to support the Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) program.
The donation will continue to support faculty salaries at the college and help expand the program to the college’s Walton County campus, which recently earned approval from the Georgia Board of Nursing.
Michael Burnett, CEO of Piedmont Athens Regional, presented a check to the College at the Technical College System of Georgia State Board Meeting in Atlanta on Feb. 3. “Athens Tech nurses not only have the hard skills they need to succeed, but they have the soft skills as well, which make them well-rounded individuals and great employees,” he said.
The College aims to meet the student interest and community demand with the program expansion to reduce the shortage of Registered Nurses in the area. The Walton Campus program is now accepting applications for admission for summer semester 2022. With the expansion, the program can enroll up to 30 additional students, bringing the total program up to about 100 students per year.
“We could not take as many students into our Nursing program without the support of Piedmont, and we are grateful they have been an outstanding partner with us dating back to 1997,” said ATC President Andrea Daniel. “Our college is currently renovating classroom and lab space to expand the program at the Walton Campus, and we are in the process of hiring four additional full-time instructors for this program.”
There is a projected positive impact on the immediate and surrounding communities by affecting the job market for the nursing graduates of the Walton Campus. Healthcare facilities located in Monroe, Athens, Atlanta and the surrounding counties will benefit from the nursing program expansion.
“The ASN program expansion to the Walton campus will meet a vital need in northeast Georgia as the region faces a critical nursing shortage amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Lori Callahan, Nursing Program Chair. “Based on our exceptional nursing outcomes such as 97% program completion, 97% employment rate, and 98% NCLEX pass rate in 2021, our nursing program is partnering with local healthcare facilities to expand the successful nursing program.”
The ASN program has a history and respected reputation of graduating approximately 1,500 entry-level nurses since the inception of the program in 1983. It also has full approval from the Georgia Board of Nursing and is fully accredited by Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN).
ATC welcomes students to apply and discover where they can make an impact on the public health and healthcare of the region. For more information on admissions requirements to the program, see www.tiny.cc/ATCnursing.
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Josh Paine
(706) 583-2552