Longtime nurse Pamela McCullough will lead UMW’s new bachelor of science in nursing completion program.
Designed for registered nurses who have completed an accredited associate degree or diploma nursing program, the courses will begin this fall. As director, McCullough hopes the curriculum will help students think creatively and excel in their careers.
Course work will include advanced writing techniques, the sociology of health and medicine, and medical ethics. The program should be a good fit for working nurses, with plenty of flexibility.
Briefly a theater major, McCullough earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a post-master’s certificate from the Catholic University of America. She earned a Ph.D. in nursing practice from Old Dominion University, completing a doctoral capstone project in 2011 at UMW’s Student Health Center.
A Fredericksburg-area resident since 1998, McCullough served more than two years as nursing program director at Stratford University in Woodbridge. Before that, she spent a decade as a certified nurse practitioner at Pratt Pediatrics in Fredericksburg.
Recent studies show improved patient outcomes when at least 80 percent of nurses hold bachelor’s
degrees, McCullough said.
“Continuing your education to the bachelor level makes you able to see a more global picture of health care.”