“Sharon was the glue that held us together,” says Professor Emerita Patricia Lasky, Ph.D., RN, former associate dean for undergraduate programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. “She kept us on target to the meet the needs of the undergraduate nursing student.”

Sharon Nellis, MPA, former assistant dean for academic programs and outreach, retired from the School of Nursing in October of 2008. She had a hand in developing the career goals of UW-Madison nursing undergraduates and registered nurses throughout the State of Wisconsin for the past 23 years.

Nellis began working for the School of Nursing in 1985. She provided academic and admissions counseling to continuing and prospective students pursuing a BS in nursing, many of whom were RNs looking to advance their education.

“I think that one of Sharon’s many contributions was bringing us into the world of data,” says Lasky, who served as associate dean from 1992 to 2000. “We were lagging behind in using data systems and computer-based tools to meet the academic priorities of the school. Sharon, with the help of the school’s director of technology, brought us up to speed and continued to keep us at the forefront of using data systems to improve the academic experience of the undergraduate student.”
In the early 1990s, Nellis and Lasky played key roles in a UW System effort to launch the Collaborative Nursing Program (CNP). The CNP, known today as the “BSN@Home,” provides associate degree registered nurses the opportunity to complete a baccalaureate nursing degree through any of the five UW System’s nursing programs via online coursework.

The CNP took root in the late 1980s when RNs around the state were polled to determine whether there was any interest in obtaining a BS degree through distance education. A resounding “yes” brought deans and associate deans from the various nursing schools together to create a program.

All five schools were already providing continuing education credits through outreach, recalls Nellis, but they lacked a sustainable credit program. “An infrastructure had to be created in order for the collaboration not to fall apart,” Nellis says.

Faculty from the five institutions created the CNP curriculum. Nellis, who chaired the advisors’ group, was charged with making this effort work – setting up processes to gather class rosters and students’ commitment forms and building a database that held the vast amounts of information required for each faculty to connect with students across the state.
Between 2000 and 2002, the CNP courses were moved online, giving students greater accessibility. In celebration of its 10-year anniversary in 2006, the CNP was branded “BSN@Home” – a name reflecting how easy it is for nurses to earn their BS in nursing from their home computer.
“Most students are part-time with work schedules,” says Nellis. “The BSN@Home has allowed students to progress faster. More and more students take two courses at a time and finish earlier. Nearly all of the five institutions require one face-to-face course, but all the rest can be done online.”

Nellis’s efforts continued to expand the program’s reach across Wisconsin. Along with steering committee members, she constructed an articulation agreement with the Wisconsin Technical College System that provides credit transfer into the BSN@Home program.

“As coordinator of the BSN@Home program,” says Gale Barber, MA, assistant dean for graduate studies and Nellis’s colleague, “Sharon showed creativity, organizational skill, and perseverance in bringing together five schools of nursing, each running on different academic calendars. She balanced her role as statewide coordinator with her role in the UW–Madison program.”

“BSN@Home is a partnership on many levels,” Nellis adds. “Classmates statewide love the opportunity to share perspectives with fellow nurses; faculty get to know their students as well as in a classroom setting, if not better, through online interaction.” And no matter where the students are enrolled (i.e., whatever they declare their home institution), Nellis adds, they are charged the same fee.

The number of enrollees reflects the program’s success all across Wisconsin. The BSN@Home has graduated 634 BS-prepared nurses over the last eleven years: 101 from UW-Eau Claire, 153 from UW-Green Bay, 110 from UW–Madison, 107 from UW-Milwaukee, and 163 from UW-Oshkosh.

“But as much as Sharon focused on quality and systems,” says Nadine Nehls, Ph.D., RN, associate dean for academic programs and professor at the School of Nursing, “she never lost sight of the individual student.”
Nellis advised countless numbers of students on their chosen path to a nursing degree. The options were numerous and often complex, including the Undergraduate Honors Program; the Early Entry Ph.D. option, which focuses on a career in nursing research; and the BS program offered at the UW-Madison School of Nursing Western Campus in La Crosse.

“Advisors are here to guide, help, answer questions, and refer,” Nellis says. “It’s a point in time when students need to explore their interests within the confines of a safe environment. Our roles are to give them the tools to help them move down the path they want to go. I have loved my role in this process.”