Nursing Program Earns Final Accreditation

The Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) voted to approve accreditation for Westmont’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program. Westmont had to clearly demonstrate that its nursing program, which launched in January 2022, met all four of the CCNE standards: mission and governance, institutional commitment and resources, curriculum and teaching-learning practices, and assessment and achievement of program outcomes. This accreditation is retroactive, which means that our first cohort of eight nursing students, who graduated this past May, earned their degree from a CCNE-accredited program.

Kim Denu, Westmont provost, congratulates and thanks Di Hoffman, the program’s current director, and Carol Velas, the program’s founding director, as well as the entire nursing faculty and staff team. “We are thankful for their leadership,” she says. “We are also grateful for our nursing students and graduates who are representing Westmont through the excellent care and compassion they provide patients in clinical settings within our community and beyond. We look forward to many more Westmont-educated nurses joining their ranks for years to come.”

Last July, all eight of the initial cohorts passed the National Council for Licensure Exam-RN and have begun careers as nurses, half serving in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. There are 57 students currently enrolled in the program housed in downtown Santa Barbara.