Two Omaha metro education institutions partner to ease path to advanced health care science degrees

OMAHA — To help smooth a path to advanced health care science degrees, Clarkson College of Omaha and Iowa Western Community College are joining forces in a new program.

Representatives of the two institutions were to sign an “articulation” agreement Tuesday that allows Iowa Western students graduating with an associate degree to move swiftly and directly into a bachelor of science degree program at Clarkson.

“It saves them time and tuition dollars, with a planned pathway to advance their degree and not take courses they don’t need, wasting time and money,” said Clarkson spokeswoman Jina Paul.

An articulation agreement, Paul said, helps ensure that students don’t duplicate coursework they previously completed. If such an agreement were not in place, she said, students might take courses they don’t need and extend the time to complete a bachelor’s degree.

“Together, Iowa Western and Clarkson College have done the work up-front to save the students time and money,” she said.

Dr. Andreia Nebel, president of Clarkson College, said in a media release that educators must work together to remove barriers and reduce the cost of health care professional education. She was to announce the partnership along with Dr. Daniel Kinney, Iowa Western’s president, at the Iowa Western campus.

“This agreement puts us one step closer to helping solve the health care workforce shortage facing our communities,” Nebel said.

Located in Council Bluffs, Iowa Western was founded in 1967 and offers more than 80 programs of study in career and technical education and liberal arts.

The roots of Clarkson College date to 1888 as a training school of nursing, the first in Nebraska. Since then, the private, nonprofit institution has expanded its physical campus at the 42nd and Dodge Streets campus as well as its health care education programs — offering up to doctoral degree opportunities in areas including nursing, health care business, physical Tterapist assistant and imaging informatics.