Nursing Draws One of Its Largest and Most Diverse Classes Ever

Adelphi has always been known for its nursing program, and nursing has always been one of the University’s most popular majors. That certainly remains the case these days, with an ever-increasing need for nurses making the profession one of the nation’s fastest growing. The program’s incoming class of first-year and transfer students is not only one of its largest, it’s one of its most diverse.

This year, Adelphi will welcome 322 first-year and 164 transfer students to its nursing program. Most first-year students are from New York, but there are also a number from New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as California, Arizona and Texas.

Nearly 13 percent of the first-year nursing class is male.

“It’s wonderful that the percentage of male students interested in nursing continues to increase,” says Elaine Smith ’78, M.S. ’88, M.B.A., Ed.D., R.N., NEA-BC, ANEF, interim dean of the College of Nursing and Public Health. “Our male nursing faculty members are outstanding role models for other men interested in nursing,” she added.

Among the first-year nursing students, 54 percent identify as nonwhite, including Hispanic, Asian and African American students. Among the transfer students, about 50 percent identify as nonwhite.

Donatella Deninno, an 18-year-old student from Howard Beach, New York, is one of the new first-year students. “I was told that nursing would be the perfect profession for me,” she says. “What I’ve learned so far is that working in the medical field truly humbles you, because you see people in some of the hardest times of their lives. I want to help people, and nursing really gives me the opportunity to do that.”

Choosing Adelphi was easy for Deninno. “Every time I visited campus, I felt like I belonged, and everyone was so friendly and welcoming,” she says.

Beyond the welcoming and inviting campus culture, a number of extracurricular activities help foster an enriching community and prepare students for future careers. The Adelphi University Student Nurses Association, for example, is an active force on campus, providing students with networking opportunities. And students gain valuable clinical experience at Adelphi’s network of partners, including institutions like Northwell Health, Catholic Health system facilities and NYU Winthrop Hospital.

Nursing students also benefit from the state-of-the-art facilities in the University’s Nexus Building, which serves as the home of the College of Nursing and Public Health. Opened in the fall of 2016, the $76 million, 100,000-square-foot building includes ultramodern classrooms and high-tech simulation labs designed to prepare students for a number of different settings, from medical centers to in-home patient care.

Within the first year of graduating from Adelphi’s nursing program, about 96 percent of nursing students land jobs.

“Nursing provides an excellent job market for students graduating with a B.S. in the nursing major,” Dr. Smith says. “There is a nationwide nursing shortage, so the employment opportunities are really endless. Nursing leads to an extraordinarily rewarding career, and I strongly encourage students to pursue graduate and doctoral studies at the end of their four undergraduate years.”

Deninno, among many others, plans to do just that. “My long-term goal and dream is to get a nursing job and start my life,” she says. “I also plan to go back to school and get my master’s degree so I can become a nurse practitioner.”