66 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • DECEMBER 2021
PLAZA COLLEGE OPENS
It may be the perfect prescription to
help cure a nursing shortage — and
provide New York’s students an accelerated
path into the profession.
With the new year, Long Island and New
York City are getting a new nursing
program, as Plaza College launches
its nursing school, the result of three
years of organization and planning,
extensive investment, construction,
and staff recruitment.
Plaza College’s fi rst class of 20 nursing students
arrives at the new nursing school
in Forest Hills, Queens, in January, with
teachers who have extensive clinical and
academic training, high-tech simulation
labs, and partnerships between the program
and numerous local institutions.
PARTNER CONTENT
“We began the construction and articulation
of this degree program over
three years ago,” said Plaza College’s
Chief Operating Offi cer Chad Callahan.
“It takes a while to put together a nursing
program, a curriculum, a program mission,
how it fi ts into an organization and
its implementation.”
The nursing school, equipped with 5,000
square feet of state-of-the-art simulation
laboratories, is part of a larger institution
with about 1,000 students. Plaza
College also off ers programs for dental
hygienists, medical assistants, court
reporting, and business, among others.
“Plaza College has a long history of serving
the diverse communities of Queens,
both in terms of its student body and the
community as a whole,” said Francine
Laterza, Ed.D., R.N., P.N.P., C.N.E., director
of the nursing program. “That’s something
we pride ourselves on continuing
with the introduction of our nursing
school and the community partnerships
that have developed as a result.”
The program is an upper-division
baccalaureate degree consisting of 60
credits of core nursing courses. Many
Plaza College nursing applicants arrive
with previously earned associate or
bachelor degrees and transfer many
credits to obtain an accelerated bachelor’s
in nursing in four semesters, the
equivalent of 16 months.
“Some college grads fi nd themselves
without access to a career path. Now
they have to rethink, ‘What am I going
to do next?’ Callahan said of students
who choose to return to school for
nursing. “This program is built as a
fast-track pathway.”
The College offers an option for
those who don’t yet qualify to apply
because they do not possess
the required prerequisite courses.
Those applicants may fi rst enroll in
the College’s Associate of Science
program in Allied Health Science.
The pandemic occurred after Plaza
College had begun plans for its nursing
school. Recent events have increased
awareness of healthcare and raised the
profi le of the nursing profession.
Andrew Arniotes, MSN, RN, CPN (Nursing Faculty); Emily Marino, MBA (Clinical Coordinator); Francine Laterza Ed.D, RN, PNP, CNE (Nursing Program Director);
Eric Stern, MS (Simulation Coordinator)
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
