Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, both historically Black educational institutions, have entered into an agreement that will enhance opportunities for Bennett College alumnae to pursue graduate studies at Winston-Salem State University.
Under the agreement, Winston-Salem State will not set aside any places for Bennett College graduates. But Bennett College will steer students to five graduate programs at Winston-Salem State University and the university has agreed to actively recruit Bennett students to these programs. The five programs involved in the agreement are graduate degrees in health care administration, occupational therapy, physical therapy, rehabilitation counseling, and an accelerated bachelor’s degree program in nursing. Bennett College graduates who enter the nursing program at Winston-Salem State University will be eligible to earn a second bachelor’s degree in nursing in 18 months.
The agreement also calls for research collaborations among faculty at the two educational institutions and for Winston-Salem faculty members to give guest lectures at Bennett College.
Rosalind Fuse-Hall, president of Bennett College, says the partnership will help draw more students to the women’s college, which does not have a degree program in nursing. “We know that our students can come and get a solid foundation at Bennett and then they can progress straight into the program there,” she said.
Winston-Salem hopes the agreement will help its efforts to diversify the healthcare workforce in North Carolina. Only half of the students in the Winston-Salem University health science graduate programs are members of minority groups.
