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UM Students Receive Early Decision Acceptances to Medical School

Posted on: December 13th, 2022 by erabadie

University of Mississippi School of Medicine extends welcome to 19 aspiring doctors

University of Mississippi School of Medicine

DECEMBER 10, 2022 BY STAFF REPORT

This autumn, nineteen University of Mississippi students were accepted in the Early Decision Program to the School of Medicine in Jackson. Twelve are in the College of Liberal Arts with eight biological science majors, two biochemistry majors, an allied health studies major, and an international studies major. “When students apply for Early Decision, they have identified the school that they feel is the best for them,” said Sovent Taylor, director of UM’s Health Professions Advising Office. “UMMC is an excellent medical school that provides a high-quality education, so it is no surprise that our students are eager to apply there for early decision.”

Aspiring doctors committed to attending one particular medical school may apply through the Early Decision Program. Two important aspects of the EDP are that the applicant can apply to only the one school of choice until a decision is received and, if accepted, must attend that school; if not accepted under the EDP, the applicant may automatically be reconsidered as a Regular Decision Program applicant by that school and may then apply to other schools.

“Our students work very hard to do everything we ask of them,” Taylor said. “They are highly intelligent and driven and that motivates us even more to make sure our students have a competitive advantage. Premedical academic advisor Kelli Hutchens is essential in this process and is one of the reasons for the extremely impressive acceptance rate for early decision students. In the Health Professions Advising Office, we will continue to put our students’ dreams at the forefront and do everything we can to help them reach those dreams.”

The students accepted early decision to the UMMC are

Abby Carroll, allied health studies major, minor in linguistics
Blake Berry, biological science major, minor in chemistry
Camille Couey, biological science major, minors in chemistry and society & health
David Huang, biological science major, minor in chemistry
Claire Pearson, biological science major, minor in chemistry
Allegra Latimer, biological science and French majors
Michael Pitts, biological science major, minors in chemistry and mathematics
Quay Robinson, biological science major, minors in chemistry and mathematics
Braxton Crumpler, biochemistry major, minor in biological science
Megan Dallas, accountancy major
Mattie Derivaux, biochemistry major
Logan Lamar, management major, minors in biological science and chemistry
Luke Pitts, biochemistry major, minor in biological science
Anna Robertson, biochemistry and biological science majors, minor in society & health
John Hollis Tackett, engineering major, minor in manufacturing
Holman Taylor, biological science major, minors in chemistry and society & health
Alex Turner, business major, minor in chemistry
Akshaya Vijayasankar, international studies major, minors in chemistry and Spanish
Hanna Watson, exercise science major, minors in biological science and chemistry

According to Hutchens, “Nineteen of 21 applicants is an over 90% acceptance rate and neither of the remaining two have been rejected so both COULD be accepted in February or later.”

Sixue Chen, chair of the Department of Biology—which had the most majors accepted early decision by the University of Mississippi School of Medicine—said, “This is an amazing achievement, and I am so proud of our students. These outstanding students have worked hard to prepare for a great future in medicine.

“Our society is facing a lot of grand challenges to our health, availability of sustainable resources, biodiversity, and a changing climate. Biologists can make big contributions to solving these problems. Our faculty and staff are dedicated to educating our students in an uplifting and inclusive environment to become lifelong critical thinkers and future leaders in many different professions. They make sure our students are successful. As a big family here at the University of Mississippi, we together lift barriers, transform lives, and make our world a better place.”

The University of Mississippi has a much higher than national average acceptance to medical school, particularly for those students who work with our Health Professions Advising Office said Holly Reynolds, associate dean of liberal arts. “The students receive outstanding academic preparation, have a full range of meaningful cocurriculuar experiences, and are guided by experts in the Health Professions Advising Office to be as competitive as possible. I am so proud of what they have accomplished!”

Student Pursues Passion in Critical Care Nursing

Posted on: September 30th, 2022 by erabadie

Kaylee Hillhouse completes degrees in allied health studies and nursing to follow her dreams

Kaylee Hillhouse monitors a ‘patient’ in a clinical teaching lab at the UM South Oxford Center. She recently graduated with bachelor’s degrees in nursing and allied health studies and begins her career as an ICU nurse this month at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi. Photo by Pam Starling/Division of Outreach and Continuing Education

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 BY PAM STARLING

Kaylee Hillhouse, of Pontotoc knew that she wanted her career to make a difference in the lives of others. She also really likes puzzles.

“I like working the steps and figuring out how each piece fits together,” Hillhouse said. “The feeling you get at the end when you know you’ve searched and tried each piece and finally find all of the connections, it’s the satisfaction that your work made something beautiful; that’s what I find so fulfilling.”

Hillhouse is also a fan of “True Crime” podcasts. She might be a bit of an investigator. It’s this inquisitive nature that drew her into the field of critical care nursing.

As a recent graduate of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and the University of Mississippi‘s Bachelor of Allied Health Studies, she is moving full steam ahead in turning her passions into her life’s work.

She did, however, have to rework her own educational puzzle along the way.

Kaylee Hillhouse, of Pontotoc, graduated recently with her bachelor’s degree in nursing through the accelerated one-year program offered by the UM Medical Center. She also completed a Bachelor of Allied Health Studies at Ole Miss. Submitted photo

Starting college as a pharmacy major, Hillhouse worked part time at a local pharmacy, but after working in the field decided it wasn’t what interested her most about medicine.

“I wanted more interaction with patients, and critical care nursing is one of the most attentive roles in the nursing profession,” Hillhouse said. “I want to help figure out what it’s going to take to stabilize the patient, get them weaned off of lifesaving machines and medication, and help them get closer to going home.”

The next fall, she learned that she could use many of the college credits she had earned before changing her major and apply them toward the Bachelor of Allied Health Studies program at UM. This degree pathway would allow her to complete classes and apply to a one-year accelerated BSN program, without adding additional time to her college journey.

In 2021, Hillhouse completed her bachelor’s degree in just three years through coursework taken at Itawamba Community College and UM, and in summer 2021, she began her BSN courses and clinical rotations.

“Finding this pathway to earn my bachelor’s degree was a great way for me to get my pre-reqs for the nursing program, and it was especially helpful that after changing my major, my classes still counted toward the degree,” Hillhouse said.

As an intern this year at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in Oxford, Hillhouse was offered a full-time nursing position in the Intensive Care Unit before graduating this summer with her BSN. She just completed her nursing board certification exams and will begin working full-time as an ICU nurse in September.

“Everyone has said that their first year in ICU is nerve-racking, but there is a lot of support,” she said. “I think I’m most excited to work closely monitoring and advocating for my patients and working as a team with the fellow ICU nurses.”

For one of the final pieces of her educational puzzle, Hillhouse hopes to continue her education to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist after completing the required two years of experience in critical care.

“I think one of the most important things I have learned is to stay on top of my skills and remain compassionate for your patients, regardless of who you are taking care of,” she said. “I hope to be able to hold onto that throughout the years of my career.”

Kaylee Hillhouse checks a monitor in a clinical teaching lab at the UM South Oxford Center. Photo by Pam Starling/Division of Outreach and Continuing Education

Sovent Taylor, director of the UM Health Professions Advising Office, said that the need for qualified health professionals in Mississippi is one of the primary reasons the allied health academic program was created.

“This degree helps students map out their future career as a health care professional, and it prepares them with coaching, assistance and a well-rounded curriculum that sets them up for success in the next steps of their career,” he said.

“The program provides the information, classes and everything they need to be competitive in their chosen medical field.”

The allied health studies degree program offered at UM campuses in Booneville, Grenada, Oxford, Southaven and Tupelo is a new pathway to prepare students pursuing a career in a variety of health professional fields such as nursing, dental hygiene, occupational and physical therapy, health information, medical lab sciences and radiology. It also can provide the background and coursework needed to apply to medical school.

“I really liked that I was able to choose from a wide variety of classes to make up this degree,” Hillhouse said.

Students can enroll in or transfer in academic credit in a wide variety of core courses and from there complete 30-36 hours of major course requirements such as medical terminology, biomedical ethics or the sociology of disability, to name a few.

The COVID-19 Cohort

Posted on: August 24th, 2020 by erabadie

Recent UM graduates enter medical school during a global pandemic

AUGUST 24, 2020

This summer, 104 members of the UM class of 2020 are entering medical school during a historic time, a global pandemic of COVID-19. Because of safety protocols, they’re missing out on milestone events, like the traditional white coat ceremony, when a white coat is placed on new medical students’ shoulders, and they recite the Hippocratic Oath, signifying their entrance into the medical profession. Yet, their education moves onward. Through all the intensity that the first weeks of medical school brings, these fledgling medical students are aware that they now have a front seat to the challenges and advances in health care that are front page news. Here are the journeys of three.
Connor Bluntson (BS Biological Science ’20)

UMMC School of Medicine

Connor Bluntson

Connor Bluntson’s emergence into medical school has been a quick plunge.

“First two tests yesterday [August 19] and I pretty much collapsed into bed as soon as I got home!” he said.

“Starting medical school during a pandemic has been quite the unique experience. The format of many of our classes is changing or going virtual, it has made an already difficult year of transition even more challenging.”

His first experience at University of Mississippi Medical Center came after his freshman year at UM, when he researched the effects of sleep deprivation on early life development, shadowing Dr. James Shaffery, Director of the Animal Behavior Core Facility in the Medical Center’s Division of Neurobiology and Behavioral Research, a part of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.

As a premedical student and major in the Department of Biology, he found guidance for his passage through academia w MAPS (Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students). Based out of the Health Professions Advising Office, MAPS is a nationally recognized organization open to all undergraduate minority students who are headed for a career as a health professional.

In the summer of his junior year, MAPS opened the door to a six-week long summer health professions preparation program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the medical school of Columbia University.

Perhaps most important of all, it was through MAPS that Bluntson met his mentor, Khalid Manzoul (BS 18), now a third-year medical student the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. Two years ahead of Bluntson, the two first met at Ridgeland High School and were reunited through MAPS.

“It’s a different journey to be a premed as a minority person,” said Bluntson. “MAPS would bring in minority doctors to talk to us so we would have role models. MAPS students take other students of color under their wing and support them.”

Recalling UM’s introductory science courses, he said, “It really helps when you walk into a large lecture hall and see other minority students there. We would study together and support each other.”

Manzoul, was invaluable when Bluntson was studying for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) last summer.

“I dedicated a good month and a half to study,” he said. “Khalid passed down his MCAT prep books to me. I knew these books had worked for him, so they should work for me, too, in scoring high on a very difficult test.”

The magic worked. Bluntson’s first year at UMMC will a build a foundation that balances academics and clinical work. His first-year courses include: Biochemistry, Histology and Cell Biology, Gross Anatomy, Physiology, Developmental Anatomy, and Neurobiology.

During his second semester, he will ease into patient care with Core Concepts, a course that is a gradual introduction to the clinical aspect of medicine, and includes a basic life support class, guest lecturers, group projects, and the medical students’ first patient interaction.

“I feel fortunate to begin my medical journey now in a time where healthcare professionals have never been more crucial to the framework of our society,” he said. “It helps to put my studies in perspective knowing that I’ll soon be able to make a similar impact in my own community, and hopefully, help to prevent a similar disaster from occurring in the future.”

Joey Madison Davis

Joey Madison Davis (BA Biochemistry ’20)

UMMC School of Medicine

Joey Davis and Bluntson are in the same cohort. On her first day of orientation at the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), Joey Davis (BS20) recalled the first phone call she made after she learned that she’d been accepted into medical school.

“I called Dr. Taylor and Ms. Kelli,” she said. “Dr. Taylor put me on speakerphone so that I could tell them both at the same time.”

Sovent Taylor and Kelli Hutchens—respectively the director and assistant director of UM’s Health Professions Advising Office (HPOA)—had mentored Davis since her sophomore year at UM.

“I started out in the School of Pharmacy, but it wasn’t really the right match, so I went to speak to Ms. Kelli, and she helped me get an internship shadowing doctors in the emergency room at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis. That’s when I knew I wanted to be a physician.”

At St. Francis, Davis started out shadowing physicians the summer of her freshman year.

By April of her sophomore year, she was hired to a full-time position as a scribe for the ER doctors.

“A scribe takes notes for the doctors when they’re examining the ER patients,” Davis said.

While she worked at St. Francis, she also maintained a full course load at UM and—in her free time—worked in the UM Department of Chemistry as a group study leader.

Her most memorable moments at her scribe job were seeing how some patients put the doctors trying to help them “under scrutiny for their ethnicity, race, and gender.”

“I saw female doctors who didn’t get respect and African American doctors whose patients wouldn’t let the doctors touch them, but the doctors always handled the situation with complete professionalism,” Davis said. “I saw how they always maintained respect for the patients.”

Davis said that Taylor and Hutchens helped her articulate these experiences in essays she wrote for her medical school applications. They also supported her application process by helping her get a scholarship to pay for online tutoring for the notoriously difficult Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).

Taylor had created a scholarship program with funding from large test preparation companies, like Kaplan and Altius, in order to ensure that the steep price wasn’t an obstacle to students’ excelling on the test.

“It was about $3 thousand worth of materials, including the practice test books and online practice sets,” Davis said. “I’m the first generation in my family to attend college, and that would have been unaffordable for me.”

During her junior year, she split her time between her job at St. Francis and a job at the HPAO on campus. By her senior year, she worked full-time at the HPAO office.

“I was always there anyway, so working there wasn’t much different,” she said.

She chose UMMC for its small size. As she begins her education there during the pandemic, she feels that the unusual circumstances add “another layer of meaning. We’re going to be obtaining knowledge as we go, just like the rest of the medical world,” she said. “It’s clear that I’m passionate about being a physician.”

Mallory Loe (BS Chemistry ’20)

Mallory Loe

Mallory Loe found her inspiration to become a doctor under her own roof growing up. Her little sister was born with a congenital heart defect just eight days after Hurricane Katrina and had to be airlifted from the family’s local hospital in West Monroe, Louisiana, to a hospital in New Orleans with the ability to perform cardiac surgery on newly-born babies.

Years later, that initial fascination with medicine led Mallory to the HST-Wellman Summer Institute for Biomedical Optics, a collaboration between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Each summer, the Institute chooses eight to twelve undergraduate students from across the country to pursue full-time laboratory research for 10 weeks.

The fellowship funded Mallory’s summer research at a lab in Massachusetts General Hospital, run by Professor Guillarmo (Gary) Tearney, the Remondi Family Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair, Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, and an Affiliated Faculty member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). At the lab, Mallory was part of a research team that leads the medical field in using high-resolution optical imaging modalities to diagnose disease rather than taking tissue from the body for biopsies. Doctors can get a good visual on a part of the body and do a diagnosis without an invasive procedure.

She found the fellowship with Tearney after meeting him in during her Junior Quest, a program originating in the Sally McConnell Barksdale Honors College. In December 2018 , several SMBHC juniors traveled to Boston to interview professionals in their fields of interest and to gather information for their honors theses. During the trip, Loe visited Tearney, whom she had researched and contacted for an appointment. Atter they met, he suggested that she apply for the HST-Wellman Summer Institute.

“I love research and discussion about medical topics, and I was interested in doing research that could have a direct benefit to so many patients,” Loe said. “It was an incredible opportunity.”

Loe will continue her journey at the Tulane University School of Medicine, which she entered this summer.

University Honors Three with Frist Awards

Posted on: May 8th, 2020 by erabadie

Carmen Riggan, Stefan Schulenberg and Sovent Taylor recognized for exceptional student service

MAY 7, 2020 BY MITCHELL DIGGS

Three University of Mississippi employees who have demonstrated dedication and passion for helping students succeed have been honored with a campuswide award for student service.

Carmen Riggan

Carmen Riggan, pre-law adviser and assistant to the dean in the College of Liberal Arts; Sovent Taylor, director of the Health Professions Advising Office; and Stefan Schulenberg, professor of psychology and director of the Clinical-Disaster Research Center, have been selected as this year’s Frist Student Service Award honorees.

The three employees were chosen from among dozens of nominees, submitted by students, faculty, staff and alumni. The award generally goes to one faculty member and one staff member per year, but the award committee felt the nominations merited two staff awards – Riggan and Taylor – this year.

“On behalf of the entire university community, congratulations to all three of this year’s deserving Frist Award recipients,” Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. “Our university is fortunate to have so many outstanding individuals who go above and beyond to serve our students and make the university such a special place.

“This year’s winners are the gold standard to which we all aspire in making a difference in the lives of our students.”

Riggan was nominated by several colleagues across campus, all of whom reflected on her patience, empathy and enthusiasm for students. One referred to her as “one of the most consequential people on this campus.”

Another called her “a very unassuming individual who quietly, but effectively, excels at her job, treating each and every student with whom she comes into contact with a level of responsiveness and kindness that far exceeds what is required of her position.”

This nominator recalled an incident when a student and their family were upset that miscommunication with an academic adviser might delay the student’s graduation and admission into a graduate program. They had spent two days on campus, going from office to office, and were growing increasingly frustrated.

“Carmen, without hesitation, met with the family after hours, collected the data she needed and worked that evening to find a solution,” the nominator wrote. “The next morning, she worked with the student to get a schedule that would lead to graduation with no delay.

“In successfully navigating this situation, she was able to work with a highly emotional family, an anxious student, and faculty across a number of units to make this happen. And … this happens many, many times every year, and honestly, I have yet to see her not succeed in finding a solution that leads to a positive outcome.”

Riggan joined the UM staff in 2005 as a Rebel Reserve employee in the College of Liberal Arts, where she researched course descriptions for the university transfer equivalency database. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in higher education, both from Ole Miss.

While receiving the award is a cherished honor for Riggan, she said the biggest reward comes from helping students.

“When a student comes to my office feeling lost or paralyzed from a situation they are unsure about, it is the greatest feeling in the world to know I can help them find their way to a solution,” she said. “I feel the relationships I build with students helps them find the confidence to explore and attain their goals.

“The students inspire me. They are the reason I love what I do.”

Sovent Taylor

Taylor received several letters of nomination from students, several of whom said he helped them through the application process of medical, dental or nursing school. One noted that he took time to write five recommendation letters for her, resulting in her acceptance to Vanderbilt University’s Master of Nursing program.

Another student, who met Taylor during her sophomore year, recalled having serious doubts about her ability to succeed in the medical field.

“I voiced my fears of failure and doubts of being smart enough or qualified enough, and then with those confessions, out came the tears,” wrote the student, who recently was accepted to medical school. “I was embarrassed to be crying in a man’s office that I just met about something so seemingly dumb and trivial like a college major.

“I expected him to shoo me out of his office with a ‘It’ll be fine,’ or ‘I’m sorry, my next appointment is here.’ However, he didn’t. Dr. Taylor took the time to correct my thought process and encourage me to pursue the career I wanted. … He patiently waited for me to calm down and led me to the conclusion that I could succeed; I just had to believe in myself first.”

Taylor, a native of Clarksdale, earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and marketing, a master’s in higher education and doctorate in higher education, all from UM. He joined the university in 2006 as a regional admissions counselor and also worked for the Division of Outreach and Continuing Education, Office of Alumni Affairs and the Center for Student Success and First-Year Experience before joining the Health Professions Advising Office as assistant director in 2014.

“Winning this award means so much to me,” he said. “I was overcome with emotion when the chancellor told me I was selected for this award.

“It is so meaningful to be recognized for serving students because service is my passion. I am blessed that students trust me with their dreams. I believe that when someone trusts you with their dream, you have to give them everything you have.”

Stefan Schulenberg

A licensed psychologist, Schulenberg also is founding director of the university’s interdisciplinary minor in disaster sciences. He has served as a disaster mental health volunteer and supervisor in the American Red Cross and has worked with various other volunteer organizations, such as Mississippi’s Disaster Response Network, United Way and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Students who nominated Schulenberg for the award noted that he takes time to make sure they maintain a healthy work-life balance and often recommends books and movies that help foster purpose in one’s life.

“Being able to drop by his office for a quick chat about sports or a new action movie that has come out, has brought me relief during weeks where I was stuck at the computer for days on end or reading various journal articles,” one student wrote.

“As a graduate student, I’ve been astonished to witness how many undergraduate students have approached him for resources and guidance about coping, resilience and stress before the outbreak and especially at this time,” another student wrote. “It’s telling that so many students would come to him for help and advice, even years after they have taken his courses. It’s clear that he makes a profound impact on the students he interacts with.”

Schulenberg said he is grateful and humbled at winning the award, noting that his inspiration as a faculty member comes from an instructor who mentored him as an undergraduate more than 25 years ago at the University of Houston. She took time to give him advice, helped him become involved in research and wrote a letter of recommendation for him to be admitted into graduate school.

“Not long after she (had) looked over my materials and written the recommendation, she died from cancer,” Schulenberg said. “I never had the opportunity to tell her personally what her efforts, what her sacrifice, meant to me. She didn’t have the opportunity to learn that I would eventually go on to graduate school in clinical psychology, in large part due to her efforts helping me to open that door.

“I resolved to pay it forward. I can tell you that to this day, she is never far from my mind. She taught me a great deal … about looking out for people, about helping people to recognize opportunities to move forward in their educational and professional pursuits, and about our potential influence as faculty in cultivating and stoking the fires of student belief and motivation.”

The Frist Student Service Awards were established with a $50,000 gift from the late Dr. Thomas F. Frist, of Nashville, a 1930 Ole Miss graduate. Previous Frist winners include faculty members Aileen Ajootian, Michael Barnett, Luca Bombelli, Robert Brown, Donald Dyer, Denis Goulet, Ellen Meacham, Kerri Scott, Ken Sufka and Eric Weber; and staff members Thelma Curry, Carol Forsythe, Dewey Knight, Cindy May, Anne McCauley, Valeria Ross, Marc Showalter, Linda Spargo, and Ryan Upshaw.

Summer Programs for High School Students Move Online

Posted on: April 22nd, 2020 by erabadie

Academic, leadership and networking opportunities available through revamped offerings

The UM Summer College for High School Students will offer a variety of online learning and networking opportunities to allow rising 11th and 12th graders to earn college credit and discover more about potential career paths. Photo by Robert Jordan/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services

APRIL 22, 2020 BY PAM STARLING

Summer vacation and activities will look different this year for high school students around the country.

Despite the postponement of traditional summer camps and programs, the University of Mississippi is providing opportunities and scholarships for rising 11th and 12th graders that will allow them to try out college classes while still making friends and connections that prepare them for life after high school.

The UM Summer College for High School Students, known as SCHS, the Lott Leadership Institute and the ARISE research programs all have been converted to an online format for summer that allows high school students a chance to earn college credits while they are at home.

Students also will learn from state and campus leaders, all while being a part of special online communities and mentorships that will prepare them for their upcoming college experiences.

“The university has so many great resources that help high school students transition into college and allow them to focus on their strengths and investigate possible career paths,” said Wendy Pfrenger, assistant director of pre-college programs.

“Through a variety of online and virtual capabilities, we still want to make these resources available to students who are trying to make good use of their time this summer.”

Rising high school juniors and seniors can enroll in two college courses through SCHS during either the June or July summer sessions.

“Along with classes, each student will be a part of an online cohort that is guided by actual UM undergraduate and graduate students,” Pfrenger said. “We are building in a level of enrichment and support tailored to the online environment, including tutoring, interactive counselor-led communities and informative virtual events that will connect students to resources and special programs of interest.”

Kendrick Wallace, of Madison, is a graduate student in the university’s higher education and student personnel program who is serving as a senior counselor for this year’s online version of SCHS.

“We want to build a virtual community in a creative and engaging way so that students feel like they have a home at Ole Miss and that they know faculty, staff and other incoming students personally,” Wallace said.

“We want them to have the best start possible to their college career.”

SCHS participants can choose from a wide variety of academic tracks, including: Building a Just Society, which includes classes in sociology, gender studies, history and African American studies; Business; Chinese Language; Computer Science; Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, which includes classes in criminal justice, political science, intelligence and security studies, and political science; Engineering; Integrated Marketing and Communications; Music, Pre-health Professions, which includes classes in biology, chemistry, mathematics and psychology; Pre-law; and Pre-pharmacy.

Several electives – such as HST 131: Intro to U.S. History Since 1877, JOUR 362: Video Storytelling, MATH 125: Basic Mathematics for Science and Engineering and POL 101: Introduction to American Politics – are available to let SCHS participants broaden their horizons and explore other fields.

LaReeca Rucker, UM instructional assistant professor of journalism, will teach JOUR 361: Black Mirror, The Twilight Zone and Media as part of the SCHS July session. This popular course examines the British science fiction anthology series that explores the potential consequences of social media and future technology.

“Some might say we are currently living in a ‘Black Mirror’ moment,” Rucker said. “Recognizing the show’s potential as a discussion starter about modern and future media, students will watch specific episodes of ‘Black Mirror’ and think critically about the program.

“We’ll speculate about what the future holds, good and bad, with media and technology. And we’ll discuss what we can learn about journalism and a free society from science fiction visions of dystopias.”

Rucker said the new online format for this condensed course will include weekly online forums and Zoom meetings with nationally-recognized speakers, who will share thoughts on media and technology. The class will also complete projects to be featured on the School of Journalism and New Media’s Black Mirror Project website overseen by Rucker.

Students interested in leadership and advocacy can take part in the Lott Leadership Institute for High School Students in either the first or second summer session.

Making sure students can participate in discussions and share ideas about this time in history is a goal of this year’s Lott Leadership program, Pfrenger said.

“We will tap into the wealth of relationships and community support that UM’s Lott Leadership Institute has through online forums and video conferencing that will give students access to top decisionmakers in our state in order to hear how they are responding to the current health crisis.”

Another learning experience offered this summer in an online format is the ARISE program, which allows high school students to participate in science, technology, engineering and mathematics research experiences with Ole Miss students and faculty.

The ARISE program gives high school students an opportunity to practice scientific research that can help them purse their own studies in STEM fields and opens the doors to future careers, Pfrenger said.

Qualified high school students who are accepted into any of these virtual summer college programs may receive a full scholarship for the two UM courses they will enroll in for the summer. Students will be responsible for a $50 application fee and $75 program fee. Course and book fees also may be applicable.

For more information on these programs, visit https://outreach.olemiss.edu/pre_college/.

Burgeoning School of Nursing Program Increases Reach

Posted on: February 18th, 2019 by erabadie

Move to South Oxford Center will allow program to admit more students and offer more options

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 BY KATE ROYALS

Eva Tatum (left), assistant professor in the UM School of Nursing, shows one of the future simulation labs in the former Intensive Care Unit of Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi to students Piercen Burchfield, Katelyn Hazelgrove and Charles Gill. Photo by Joe Ellis/UMMC

Beginning in the fall, the University of Mississippi School of Nursing will expand its footprint in Oxford with a new space and more students.

The next cohort of students pursuing the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree will number 45, an increase from this year’s class of 30. The eventual goal is to admit 60 students each year, according to Mary Stewart, the school’s interim dean.

And students will be doing their work in a new space: the South Oxford Center, which housed the old Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi before being purchased by the university in 2017.

The hospital’s former intensive care unit will be converted to a high-fidelity simulation practice lab for nursing students.

“With 12 bays, faculty will be able to run several scenarios simultaneously,” Stewart said. “In the end, space matters. Having this dedicated area for the School of Nursing will enrich the educational experiences for students.”

The decision to grow the program was based on the demand from both applicants and the workforce. In addition, students pursuing their accelerated nursing degree undergo a more intense schedule and need different resources and spaces than a traditional undergraduate student requires.

“The A-BSN requires intensive study for 12 months,” Stewart said. “Students do not work outside school, so they spend much of their time in classes, labs, clinicals and other program-related activities. They need space for all of these things.

“Additionally, students need dedicated areas to study, work on projects and sometimes simply retreat for some solitude. The new space affords all of these opportunities and more.”

The Oxford nursing program is housed on two floors in Kinard Hall. The new space in the South Oxford Center will include an administrative suite for faculty and other offices, a 60-student classroom with full technological abilities, student lounges and other common areas.

Eva Tatum, assistant professor of nursing on the Oxford campus, has overseen much of the planning for the expansion.

“We can’t grow (without more space),” Tatum explained. “There’s all this talk of nursing shortages, and our accelerated students really are highly desired as nursing graduates by employers.”

The School of Nursing began offering the accelerated nursing program in Jackson in 2006, and UMMC is the only institution in the state to offer an accelerated nursing degree for students who already have one degree. The program has been offered in Oxford since 2014.

The Accelerated BSN program is designed for those who have a bachelor’s degree in another field and wish to change career paths quickly. It contains a continuous three-semester curriculum in which students participate in clinical training and classroom instruction.

The goal on the Oxford campus is to collaborate with the Health Professions Advising Office to promote the program and develop pipelines for current Ole Miss students, especially in programs such as nutrition and biology, to easily move into this degree, Stewart said.

For more information on the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree, click here. For more information on the South Oxford Center, click here.

This story was prepared by the UMMC Office of Public Affairs.