Department of Nursing

Dear Friends, On behalf of the faculty and students from the Department of Nursing at Briar Cliff University, we want to warmly welcome you to our home on the web and to Briar Cliff University! We look forward to sharing our program and activities with you and also hearing from you. Please contact us by phone or e-mail if we can be of any help to you. Richard A. Petersen, EdD, MSN, RN Associate Professor and Chairperson Department of Nursing 712-279-1662, 1-800-662-3303 ext 1662 or rick.petersen@briarcliff.edu

Our faculty believe that: Health is a process in which all dimensions of the person are in harmony with the whole. Nursing is a discipline with a unique body of knowledge that facilitates clients’ optimal holistic health. Baccalaureate nursing education offers students the opportunity to obtain a liberating education, elect areas of study and develop competencies in their chosen discipline. As a Catholic and Franciscan University, inspired by our dedication to God as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, we value the sanctity of human life, human community, service, openness to all and hold a reverence for all of creation.

 Mission Statement

The Mission of the Department of Nursing at Briar Cliff University is to promote health, healing and hope of persons and the community and to advocate for social justice and healthy environments.

This mission is lived primarily but not exclusively in educating baccalaureate prepared nurses within an environment that:

1. Fosters holistic personal and professional development;
2. Prepares nurses who will independently promote, restore, and maintain the health of client systems in a variety of health care settings;
3. Develops nurses who will participate in decision-making designed to improve health care delivery in a rapidly changing society and complex health care system; and
4. Provides a foundation for continued learning, for integration of new knowledge into practice, and for graduate education in nursing.

In living this mission, The Department of Nursing at Briar Cliff University will be the life-long nursing education provider of choice regionally for degree and non-degree programs. Foundational to this mission is an organic integration of faith, learning, and service and is lived in relationship as the Department of Nursing, her faculty and students develop and continue collaborative partnerships with other health dare, faith based, and social service providers and the public at large.