The Joint Committee on Education attended a presentation today at West Virginia Wesleyan for the start of June’s Traveling Interim Meetings. The presentation was about the Allied Health Programs the school offers.
Wesleyan enrolled 1,055 students in Fall 2024 from 32 states and 24 countries. Fifty-three of the 55 counties are represented in the student population. In the nursing program, 97 percent of the students are West Virginians, 86 percent of counseling students are West Virginians, and 37 percent of athletic training students are West Virginians.
The presenters stated that nursing, biology, exercise science, business, and criminal justice are Wesleyan’s top five undergraduate majors.
Wesleyan offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The school is beginning a licensed practical nurse to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in the Fall of 2025. More insurance providers want four-year nurses working with patients. The program is a hybrid course with online studies, hands-on labs at the previous Alderson-Broaddus Campus, now Battler’s Knob, and clinicals at area hospitals. Thirty LPNs have contacted the program before applications have opened. The announcement will come tomorrow. The LPN to BSN program is meant to help meet the increasing need for nurses in the state.
The school is partnering with Bethany College in 2026 to provide a BSN program through a virtual live stream. In 2025, the school will begin its school nurse certification program to allow registered nurses to get a certification to practice in public schools. Wesleyan offers a Master of Science in Nursing, which is a BSN to MSN program, and a Master of Science in Nursing for Family Nurse Practitioners. Additionally, the school offers a Doctorate in Nurse Practice.
Wesleyan was awarded the WVHEPC Nursing Workforce Expansion Grant. In year one, $1 million was awarded to update equipment, hire administration, retain staff, and help students with funding. In year two, $1.3 million was awarded and used to develop the LPN to BSN program. In year three, $1.5 million was awarded to implement the LPN to BSN program, which included new simulation equipment at Battler’s Knob, faculty training, and online support for pre-nursing students.
The Physician’s Assistant Program works to deliver healthcare to rural communities, as these areas may be isolated, have an aging population, have transportation difficulties, finance issues, and a shortage of physicians. Wesleyan wants to meet the state’s physician’s assistant needs. There are five physician’s assistant programs in the state; however, there are currently none between Morgantown and Charleston. Nationally, 21,000 P.A. applications are not accepted due to capacity limits.
West Virginia is ranked as one of the highest states with chronic diseases and spends more per capita than the national average. P.A.s can make quality healthcare more accessible and affordable.
The Master of Arts in Counseling provides five eight-week sessions per year. The program has full and part-time options with small cohorts. The specializations offered for the M.A. in Counseling are Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Addiction Counseling. It’s a hybrid model with online courses and on-campus weekend-long residency experiences in August. Wesleyan is working to start an Addiction Counseling Certificate, which will help train more individuals to battle addiction in the state. Currently, the state does not have a license for Addiction Counseling. The recommended ratio for counseling providers to substance use patients is 100 providers to 1,000 patients or a 1:10 ratio. Currently, West Virginia’s ratio is 1:796. No one program can do this alone, so the hope is other schools will begin to offer similar programs. The City of Buckhannon is voting in a couple of weeks to decide if some opioid abatement funds will be used for scholarships for students in the M.A. in Addiction Counseling.
The school offers two pathways to earning a Master of Arts in Athletic Training. The first is a five-year dual program with a B.S. in Exercise Science and an M.A. in Athletic Training. The second is the two-year Master’s Program in Athletic Training. The program offers hands-on training labs and requires 1,000 clinical hours. Athletic trainers are in demand in high schools and colleges.
Another Wesleyan program is the Executive Master of the Art for Business Administration, which began in 2024 and is tailored to working professionals. It is an online program with limited residences. The program offers four concentrations: healthcare administration, leadership, non-profit management, and HR management.
The meeting concluded with a driving tour of Wesleyan and a tour of the labs at Battler’s Knob.
