MILWAUKEE — A nationwide nursing shortage is affecting Wisconsin. Marquette University, the state’s largest private college, is taking action to help alleviate the issue. 

The College of Nursing plans to prepare as many as 5,000 new Marquette nurses over the next decade through its Direct Entry Master of Science and Nursing Program.  

With that comes the need for more learning space. A new, expanded and renovated building on campus will become the new College of Nursing hub.

It is expected to open next fall. When finished, it will be more than 100,000 square feet.

“This space is almost double our current space,” said College of Nursing Dean Dr. Jill Guttormson. “As we were looking at what our needs are in the program, we were about 30% short even before we expanded our nursing program.” 

The Direct Entry Master of Science and Nursing Program is specifically geared towards students who want to pursue nursing as a second career.

Bella Klotz already has a bachelor’s degree in music therapy. She said she wanted to do more.

“I loved being in the medical setting and I loved being in a pediatric-specific setting, but I wanted to do more,” Klotz said. “I wanted to have a bigger impact on my patients as they were navigating the most vulnerable moments of their lives.”

The program is also recruiting new nurses and helping solve the statewide nursing shortage in the process.

“There’s some estimates that in Wisconsin alone by 2040, we will have a shortage of about 17,000 or more nurses,” Guttormson said.

“I think it provides an immense amount of motivation to succeed and become a nurse and be part of the solution,” Klotz said. “It’s exciting to be part of a program that is doing that.”

Guttormson said the College of Nursing is aiming to add roughly 200 entry-level nursing students in the next four years, in addition to current students. The new, expanded space is just one step toward reaching that goal.