You can now earn your William Penn University Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree online! Request information for more details.
“Generally, registered nurses with at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN) will have better job prospects than those without one.” —U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Our program has a unique health leadership focus! Students can begin immediately after graduation from a registered nurse program or practicing nurses can jump right in (licensure is required beginning second semester)! Finish in 12 months with no prerequisites!
William Penn University’s program offers the nurse a collaborative learning environment with lively discussion and nurse networking.
Our program provides a comprehensive review of health assessment for the first class. In second and third terms, students analyze concepts related to professionalism and caring for themselves and their patients within a new leadership experience. In the final term, students engage in assessing populations and organizations; then applying this new knowledge by utilizing research methods that may impact the quality of healthcare in their workplace. In addition, students learn about nursing informatics and improving their own health!
Realize your dream! Make a difference in your profession and be an active member of shaping the future of healthcare.
Nursing majors are exposed to a variety of learning environments. These include experiential learning in health care settings or in the community. Students are also encouraged to meet with their faculty advisors to enhance their success in the nursing program.
The William Penn University RN-BSN Program is approved by the Iowa Board of Nursing. See the IBON Nursing Education Programs Approved by the Iowa Board of Nursing.
The William Penn University Pre-licensure BSN program has interim approval from the Iowa Board of Nursing.
The baccalaureate program at William Penn University is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, 655 K Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001, 202-887-6791.
William Penn University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
Nursing majors are eligible for a variety of health care jobs upon receiving their BSN degree from William Penn University. Possibilities include professional staff nursing and leadership roles. The graduate will also be prepared to progress in their career through pursuit of advanced nursing degrees.
Scholarships and institutional grants are available for nurses. Please contact the Nursing Department for more information at 641-673-1298 or grimv@wmpenn.edu.
Search thousands of entry level jobs, externships and scholarship opportunities on CampusRN.
William Penn University Nursing majors participate in preceptorship experience before completion of BSN requirements. Preceptorship experience provides students with deeper understanding of professional nursing roles and responsibilities. Students are given the opportunity to acquire greater working knowledge of their health care setting and the community.
Mari Ruck
Mari Ruck is many things. She is a hard-working student, an adventurer, a self-proclaimed farm girl, a dreamer; and soon, a nurse – but what makes itself most immediately evident in a conversation with Ruck is her impressive embodiment of William Penn’s advice to be grateful.
[expand title=”Keep reading” swaptitle=”Done reading” trigpos=”below” trigclass=”noarrow”]
A last-semester nursing student at William Penn University, Ruck has spent the last four years gaining experience and an education that may never have been accessible to her if not for WPU.
“I’ve always been interested in trying to get into medicine, but I’ve never managed back home,” Ruck, who was born and raised in South Africa, said.
Despite having a Bachelor of Science in human physiology, genetics and psychology and an honor’s degree in medical physiology, Ruck was rejected from medical programs in South Africa, which have strict race quotas. Unable to get accepted into a program, she ironically got a job teaching medical students instead – in a position that promised no development, promotion or raises in the future. “I was trying to move up in the world and I was just hitting walls everywhere,” she said. “Eventually, I decided that it’s now or never. I have to change something.”
She decided to leave that job and focus on finding scholarships to attend university in the U.S. and ultimately realize her dream of working in the medical field.
A mix of determination and serendipity took Ruck from that stagnant position in South Africa to the small Iowa town that would change her life. Now, nearly 9,000 miles from her hometown, Ruck wakes up every morning with the appreciative acknowledgment that she is living the American Dream.
“There is something special about the U.S. that a lot of people in the U.S. do not see anymore”
Penn, which Ruck discovered through a scholarship program, offered her the largest scholarship out of the schools she applied to—a blessing, Ruck says, that was so much more than a happy coincidence.
“I still 100% believe that everything happened so perfectly for me to be able to come here and stay here that it’s definitely God’s work,” she said. “There’s no other way all of this would have just happened and aligned perfectly.”
Just months after she began her search for American university opportunities, Ruck was boarding a plane to Iowa to begin her second bachelor’s degree. What she found when she got to campus wasn’t just a community, but a family. This is where she was meant to be.
That familial aspect of William Penn’s campus has been an essential part of Ruck’s transition to the United States, and Oskaloosa’s small-town feel has made her home-away-from-home all the more comforting and familiar. She appreciates the university’s small size and the way that it shows through the professors’ compassion and interest in their students.
“The family concept that people have here, it’s definitely been a key factor of me being able to adapt to coming to the U.S.,” Ruck said. “Just having the small community here at William Penn and having them look at me as an individual has made the world of a difference. It never would have been [possible] if they didn’t personally take the time to get to know me.”
Initially, Ruck came to Penn to study exercise science with the goal of applying to medical school afterwards. But after speaking with a professor and realizing the wealth of opportunities in nursing in the U.S., she proceeded to move forward on a new journey: A Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing.
“When I started finding out all these different opportunities in nursing, I was like ‘well this could work’,” she said. “I have learned so much and I am loving every little bit of it. I’ve never considered nursing because back home, nursing is very limited.”
On top of her studies, Ruck has worked a number of jobs over her four years in Oskaloosa in order to pay for not only attending school, but staying in the U.S.. She views those opportunities as yet another blessing made possible only through her relocation to WPU, as working her way through school would have been a near impossibility for her in South Africa.
“Being able to afford to study and having been given the great opportunity to work at the same time, I am very fortunate,” she said.
“Fortunate” is a word often spoken and feeling often felt by Ruck as she walks the Oskaloosa campus, her heart grateful for the chance to come to America and follow her dream.
A pillar proclaiming Penn’s advice – to be humble, be meek, be patient, be merciful, be loving, be generous, be just, be true, be grateful, be diligent, be thrifty and be temperate – stands proudly on WPU’s campus. Mari Ruck is just one of Penn’s more than 1,000 students who breathe spirit and life into those statements daily. Without each individual one of them, William Penn University would not be the same inspiring, creative and diverse institution that it is today.
[/expand]
Kimberly Brown, Nursing Director
Thank you for your interest in William Penn University (WPU) and your dedication to receiving your Bachelor of Science degree in nursing!
We educate professional nurses at the Baccalaureate level to practice in collaborative or leadership roles in hospitals, clinics, and community health care agencies. As a William Penn University student, you will join a community of scholars committed to improving health care.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions:
Nursing Division Office (641-673-1298); nursing@wmpenn.edu
Admissions Office (1-800-779-7366; 641-673-1012)
The faculty, staff, and I look forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kimberly J Brown, DNP, MSN, BSN, ARNP, PMHNP-C, ARNP-C
Director of Nursing
William Penn University
| Name | Office Phone | Title | Office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimberly Brown DNP, MSN, BSN, ARNP, PMHNP-C, ARNP-C | 641-673-1182 | Director of Nursing | Penn 215 | |
| Sue Van Wyk | 641-673-1298 | Office Manager & Student Advisor for the Nursing Division | Penn 214 |
