Innovative partnership with Edgewood brings nursing program to campus

Rachel Bergstrom celebrates the partnership with Edgewood staff and Gavin Thorpe’25.
Credit: Alaina Neal

As the spring semester came to a close, Beloit College celebrated the launch of a new nursing program partnership with Edgewood College, aiming to address a local and national nurse shortage. The launch included speeches from Beloit President Eric Boynton, Edgewood President Andrew Manion, and a shout-out to Professor of Biology and School of Health Sciences Director Rachel Bergstrom, who was instrumental in developing the historic partnership.

Beginning in May 2025, Beloit will host Edgewood’s dual-degree bachelor’s in nursing (BSN) students on Beloit’s campus. Beloit students will complete coursework to receive a bachelor’s of arts or science degree from Beloit in three or four years, and then enroll at Edgewood for the one-year BSN portion of the program. Students can apply for the program at any time in their Beloit career — and opt into advising from both Beloit and Edgewood faculty as early as the summer before their first year and as late as the fall semester prior to starting the program. The BSN will be taught by Edgewood faculty recruited from the Stateline area, but students will still reside on Beloit’s campus, building on the local connections they made as undergraduates.

“We want students to still have the identity of a Beloit College student,” says Bergstrom. “With the BSN, students will be able to stay here; they won’t have to uproot for a short time and then uproot again after they’re done. Everybody is so excited about this opportunity and what it means for our students and the community. Not many schools are doing this kind of on-campus partnership in the way that we’re doing it. I’m excited about having nursing students on our campus. It’s a profession that fits really well with the liberal arts.”