Since its inception in the 1940’s and national accreditation in 1957, more than 6,000 nurses have matriculated from this College. From the classrooms in the McCutchen House to the halls of the Williams Brice Building, the nurses that have graduated from USC continue to be a powerful influence in our state, our nation, and our world.

Nurses are a vital component of the healthcare workforce, and with an imminent shortage in both the short and long-term, the call to nursing is renewed tenfold. Through our dedication to the tenets of teaching, research, and service, we will train the highest quality health professionals to meet the needs of the people of South Carolina and beyond.

We expect great things from USC Nurses, and that expectation has never gone unheeded. Whether you are pursuing a dream of becoming a nurse through our undergraduate program, or are expanding your career through our graduate and doctoral programs with the goal of becoming an advanced practice nurse, nurse leader or nurse researcher – the human, material and technological resources to support your potential are here.

Nursing is a career that encompasses caring, science, humanities, organizational savvy, the capacity to manage in complex situations, and more! We constantly seek students and faculty who have the developmental capacity to embrace these multiple dimensions to provide patient- and family-centered care within communities, contribute to the public’s health by generating knowledge through nursing and interdisciplinary research, and engage in advanced practice.

With assistance from many of our practice partners, the USC College of Nursing has taken the lead in increasing enrollments across both undergraduate and graduate programs. We have doubled our Columbia-based undergraduate upper division enrollments to 200/year, expanded our BSN program so that up to 64 upper division students can study on the USC-Salkehatchie and USC-Lancaster campuses, redesigned our graduate courses for online delivery, revamped the Doctorate in Nursing Practice curriculum to include a post-masters online track, and will take similar steps to offer the PhD online in the near future. Our faculty recognize the need to make graduate education available to those nurses who live far from our campus or to those who cannot take leave time from their jobs to pursue advanced degrees – and they are diligently learning new course delivery methods in order to meet the needs of our students in South Carolina and beyond. All of these steps are being put into place as we plan strategically to prepare the best nurses to meet tomorrow’s healthcare needs.

Our strong reputation for leadership and excellence in quality education has been made possible through the efforts of many throughout the decades. For their time, dedication, gifts, and energetic commitment, we thank all who have made this college possible. For the alumni of this college, take heart in knowing that the many lives you have touched are the better for you having been there, and the work that is yet to be done is the better because you will continue to be there. And we will be behind you every step of the way.

As we begin the next 50 years of our history, we are proud that the state’s flagship nursing college continues to provide a nursing leadership model that is second to none. Never has it been clearer that if you come to our College of Nursing, you will leave prepared to lead – because at the University of South Carolina, we believe Every Nurse is a Leader!