Pueblo -- The Nursing Department at Colorado State University-Pueblo will host an open house in January to welcome the new sophomore nursing class and to showcase the master's degree program that just completed its first semester.

The open house will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 13, in the Life Sciences Auditorium. CSU-Pueblo alumni Mike Frank ('93) and Dr. Chris Nevin-Woods, director of the Pueblo City-County Health Department, will serve as guest speakers. Frank will share his experiences as a single parent nursing student and provide an overview of his accomplishments in the nursing field.

The new Master of Science in Nursing program opened this fall with an enrollment of 17 full-time students and a waiting list of additional applicants. Graduates of the master's program will become acute-care nurse practitioners, the term used for nurses who receive nearly the same training and perform many of the same duties as primary care doctors.

Partners involved in the establishment of the master's degree project include St. Mary Corwin Medical Center, who will donate a total of $360,500 over the next two years, and Parkview Medical Center, who pledged $90,000 to help enhance the undergraduate nursing program. Additional partners include the Caring for Colorado Foundation, pledging $141,000, and Packard Foundation, who donated $45,000 to be used for faculty salaries and departmental equipment.

The open house also will serve as an official "farewell" to Professor Barbara Sabo, who has served the university in numerous capacities over the past 33 years. Sabo developed curriculum and instructional strategies in all areas of basic clinical practice and nursing theory at all levels of undergraduate nursing. Her teaching expertise includes the development of an auto-tutorial program, data base management, and computer assisted learning.

She also has served as chair of the Nursing Department and as director and team leader of an auto-tutorial laboratory. Her clinical expertise is in medical-surgical care with emphasis on adult gerontological nursing and research, and she maintains certification in advanced cardiac life support and teaches cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Her research and research consultation has focused on senior needs assessment delivery of home health care in residential care facilities, assessment of teaching methodologies, and teaching research in both the classroom and through distance-learning methods. Sabo has served on numerous campus and community committees and boards, as well as serving as Senior Nursing Class Sponsor and counselor to the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society.

Colorado State University - Pueblo is a regional, comprehensive university emphasizing professional, career-oriented, and applied programs. Displaying excellence in teaching, celebrating diversity, and engaging in service and outreach, CSU-Pueblo is distinguished by access, opportunity, and the overall quality of services provided to its students.