A new year brings new reasons for celebration, and that much is true at Chestnut Hill College. The start of 2025 marks the continuation of the College’s 100th anniversary and with it brings new academic programs, new athletic teams, and new opportunities for the next generation of students to find their people, pursue their passion, and live their purpose. As Chestnut Hill College heads into its second century, in the words of Interim President Brian McCloskey, D.M., MBA, “It’s a great time to be a Griffin!” 

Next Generation Nursing 

For 100 years, Chestnut Hill College has graduated students who make an impact on their communities. Guided by the mission and charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, the college prides itself on a purpose-driven education that meets the needs of today’s students in today’s world.  

In 2025, the college is excited to add a new nursing program that includes two nursing degrees, a bachelor’s in nursing (BSN) and an accelerated bachelor’s in nursing (ABSN) within its Center for Nursing. These degrees are immersive as students will receive hands-on clinical experience throughout their collegiate journey. They are innovative, with a focus on self-care as a foundation for patient  care. They are inclusive, designed to be accessible to traditional undergraduate students and those looking to earn a second degree and start a second career in nursing. The BSN and ABSN degrees are approved by the Pennsylvania Board of Nursing and prepare students for state certification. 

The Nursing program at Chestnut Hill College incorporates current thinking on nursing education with a fresh approach that’s more beneficial to nursing students. These programs will produce the “next generation” of nursing providers, prepared with the skills and confidence to excel in the profession and be compassionate caregivers for individuals at all stages of the lifecycle. 

Setting the College’s nursing program apart from its contemporaries is a dedicated and intentional focus on self-care that is automatically and intentionally built into the program and its student learning outcomes and evaluation measures. In partnership with the College’s Counseling Center, programs of meditation, reflection, relaxation, yoga, stress recognition, and stress reduction are paramount and available to all students. 

 This approach goes above and beyond traditional nursing programs, according to Susan Apold, Ph.D., RN, the college’s director of nursing.  The program  recognizes the unprecedented challenges faced by today’s healthcare providers, and integrates current research on nursing resilience and coping mechanisms. The result is nursing students equipped with the skills not only to handle the demands of the profession but also to identify and manage stressors while practicing self-care. 

“Chestnut Hill College’s curriculum will focus on preparing nurses who are practice-ready to prevent illness and manage disease across the lifespan by assuring that our students have immersive clinical experiences, current knowledge to prepare them for an aging population and, perhaps most importantly, the skills and knowledge to care for themselves so as to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue in this demanding career,” Apold explained.

As part of the new nursing program, a state-of-the-art Nursing Clinical Arts Center is set to open in the fall of 2025 at the College’s SugarLoaf campus and will include a new basic skills lab, teaching and office spaces, and a health assessment lab, among other spaces. The College also is upgrading existing science labs at Saint Joseph Hall on its main campus to coincide with the launch of nursing and its first-ever endowed professorships in chemistry and biology. 

Women’s flag football and golf offerings 

While nursing takes center stage from an academic standpoint, the College is also adding two new women’s athletic programs in 2025, returning golf to the roster and joining a growing list of schools backing women’s flag football. Both sports have seen tremendous traction in recent years, with female golfers leading a post-Covid worldwide golf boom and women’s flag football a newly sanctioned sport at the high school and college levels ahead of its 2028 Olympic debut. 

“Continuing to support our student-athletes is a large part of the College’s culture, and expanding into more women’s programs is another way to share the College’s mission,” McCloskey said. “I can’t think of a better way to begin our institution’s second century, much like our first, by introducing new teams and new female athletes to our college.”