Christopher Knerr

This Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Student Handbook for Bay Path University outlines the program's mission, vision, and goals for the 2024-2025 academic year. The nursing education mission is dedicated to providing high-quality education to a diverse community of learners, preparing graduates to advance science, promote equity, demonstrate practice excellence, and become leaders in nursing for complex healthcare needs. The program's vision aims to develop preeminent professional nurses capable of leading, improving, and transforming healthcare. The MSN program goals are structured around ten core domains, encompassing knowledge, person-centered care, population health, scholarship, quality and safety, interprofessional partnerships, systems-based practice, informatics and healthcare technologies, professionalism, and personal/professional leadership development, emphasizing an integrated approach to learning and skill acquisition.

Bay Path University's Vision 2019 plan focuses on ensuring student success in a changing world by addressing key higher education challenges: diversity and changing student demographics, student persistence to graduation, the cost of higher education, and establishing data-driven progress measurement. The plan sets the stage for the next twenty years, emphasizing student-centered decision-making, fiscal responsibility, and maintaining Bay Path's unique position as a women's university. The plan includes five themes: building and demonstrating the university's distinctive purpose; ensuring co-curricular experiences meet student needs; determining program offerings; delivering necessary student support services and resources; and providing faculty and staff with necessary resources to achieve the vision. Four overarching questions guide the plan: creating a diverse and inclusive community; increasing student graduation rates; managing the cost of education; and establishing effective progress metrics.

Vision 2020: Bridging 2019 to the Future, builds upon Vision 2019 and addresses challenges such as declining enrollment and the end of a grant. The plan focuses on new strategies to improve the institution's position for the future, including exploring new educational models and developing innovative external partnerships to ensure financial stability. It aims to set the course for Vision 2023.

The 2022-2024 Strategic Plan, "Building One Bay Path," focuses on four key directions to ensure student success and achieve the vision of realizing every learner's dreams for a better career, richer life, and brighter future. Direction #1 ("Our Promise") aims to provide an inclusive educational experience that supports persistence and degree attainment through a new Student Success Center, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, and a comprehensive career development program. Direction #2 ("Growth through Academic Programs") focuses on aligning academic programs with workforce trends and expanding health science offerings. Direction #3 ("Strategic Collaborations") emphasizes partnerships to expand opportunities and advance women's advancement. Direction #4 ("Managing Our Resources") prioritizes a people-centric talent management plan, efficient resource allocation, and a comprehensive fundraising strategy. The plan emphasizes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as core values to drive innovation and growth.