by Briar-Rose Templin
Pre-nursing at Asbury University has been a program for more than 25 years, but in the fall of 2025, Asbury added a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, giving the nursing community new opportunities through a new facility and a scholarship program.
Renovations are underway in the Hamman-Ray Science Center to accommodate the new BSN program, which will house the nursing equipment, labs and classrooms on the second floor.
“Asbury is currently renovating the second floor of the Hamman-Ray Science Center,” said Cheryll Crowe Johnson, Dean of the Shaw School of Sciences. “We are excited to create a state-of-the-art facility for our students to work in.”
Along with the renovation of the science building, the nursing program is receiving new equipment and supplies to support students’ studies.
“The Anatomage table is the next new item that is in place,” said Associate Professor and Nursing Administrator Connie Lamb. “The Anatomage table is the equivalent of the human cadaver lab, so this will help our nursing students in the Anatomy and Physiology Course.”
The learning environment will feature stations that simulate a hospital setting, allowing students to get hands-on experience.
“We will have manikins,” Lamb said. “Adult manikins, adolescent, newborn, a birthing simulator and a geriatric simulator.”
This renovation is expected to be completed by spring 2027, with the facility ready for faculty and students. Asbury nursing students will gain a full range of experiences from birth to old age during their education before they begin working in a hospital.
In the past, Asbury had a small number of nursing students because they had to go elsewhere for their fourth and fifth years of college. Nurses are always in high demand around the world and in the United States.
“We do have a significant workforce shortage in Kentucky,” Lamb said. “It’s a national shortage.”
Asbury has found a possible solution to the shortage by partnering with CommonSpirit Health and Saint Joseph East, and together they implemented a scholarship for freshman nursing students.
“We have partnered with CHI East for a scholarship program,” said Lamb. “The objective of this program is to recruit students from the local area who will come to Asbury’s Nursing for that scholarship. Then, when they graduate, they will go to work at Saint Joseph East, off Richmond Road.”
Asbury will help produce and prepare nurses to enter the workforce, where they can help alleviate this ongoing problem.
Kennedy Cabell, one of the four scholarship recipients, explained why the program benefits her.
“The scholarship helps me financially,” Cabell said. “Now I can graduate from Asbury debt-free, and I can get a job straight out of college through CHI East. Getting the scholarship confirmed that the Lord was leading me here.”
Asbury not only focuses on academics but also strives to teach students, “With a motto of Academic Excellence & Spiritual Vitality,” according to Asbury University’s website.
“Nursing is a profession where there is a high burnout rate,” Johnson said. “Asbury will help produce and prepare nurses to enter the workforce, where they can help alleviate this ongoing problem. Nursing is a very challenging profession; you often see humanity at its most vulnerable and difficult moments. You need a foundation in Christ and learning how to care for both yourself and your patient, and this is what creates longevity in the profession.”
Taegan Hogan, a freshman in the pre-nursing program, was intentional with her college decision.
“I like how Asbury is a Christian and welcoming university,” Hogan said. “This plays a big part in why I chose here. I can take ministry with me into the medical field with the program at Asbury.”
Nursing has brought a multitude of opportunities to both Asbury and the surrounding community.
“The creation of the BSN has been a long-awaited calling,” Johnson said. “We prayed for many years about it, and the Lord has provided in miraculous ways to bring us fruition.”
