The University’s highest governing body approved a proposal to add a School of Nursing at GW’s Virginia campus Friday morning. The school is expected to launch next July.

GW currently offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctor of nursing practice degrees through the Department of Nursing Education, a section of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Ellen Dawson, chair of the nursing department, said creating a school is a way to respond to the nursing shortage around the country and will bring talented students and faculty together.

“Becoming a school gives us the ability to recruit nationally known researchers and will attract highly qualified students,” Dawson said.

Adding a School of Nursing is also a response to the need to increase enrollment in nursing programs, Dawson said.

“Nationally, in the past four years we have turned away 50,000 applicants because of shortages of faculty and clinical sites,” Dawson said.

Jean Johnson, senior associate dean for health sciences, said placing the new school at the Virginia campus is a way to respond to the state’s own nursing shortage as well.

“Placing it in the state of Virginia is important to address the needs of nurses,” Johnson said. “We are going to be part of that enterprise to a address a state and national issue.”

Johnson and Dawson will serve as co-deans, Johnson said. The proposal for the new school includes a $1 million fund from the Medical Center to fund four tenure-track professors. The Faculty Senate expressed some concerns over the financial stipulations of starting a new school but in a meeting Monday professors in the Senate voiced approval for the photos. The school is expected to fund itself through tuition from new students.

Johnson said the Virginia campus already has a state-of-the-art skills lab and has ample space to build on, although there are no plans for new buildings yet.