Seminole State College and SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital – Shawnee were recently recognized by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education with a Business Partnership Excellence Award.
The award program annually honors outstanding partnerships that lead to significant contributions in educating and developing Oklahoma’s workforce.
St. Anthony Hospital – Shawnee has worked with Seminole State College’s nursing program to provide students opportunities to develop their skills through on-site clinical training to help prepare them to enter the health care field. In 2020, the College’s nursing program director was called away to active duty for a 12-month deployment, leaving the position vacant for the next year. St. Anthony Hospital – Shawnee worked with SSC on an agreement to bring in an interim director of nursing for the spring, summer and fall 2020 semesters.
This arrangement resulted in the temporary hiring of St. Anthony Hospital – Shawnee nurse and previous administrator Linda Brown, with the hospital continuing to pay a large portion of her salary. Brown brought years of nursing experience, both administratively and in the field. She worked to maintain the integrity of the program and to provide her knowledge to the students and colleagues she worked with during her time on campus.
“We are honored to receive this recognition for our collaboration with SSC. We were happy to invest in this program’s leadership and provide support for SSC to continue to prepare and graduate a skillful nursing workforce,” St. Anthony Hospital – Shawnee President Angi Mohr said.
“The College has had a longstanding working relationship with St. Anthony Hospital – Shawnee, one that provides our nursing students so many opportunities,” SSC President Reynolds said. “In 2020, the hospital helped us fill a critical role in nursing education, and we worked together closely to safeguard the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve. We are appreciative of the hospital and their willingness to help us – especially during these challenging times for health care.”
In-lieu of an in-person ceremony, partnerships were recognized on the State Regents’ webpage at: okhighered.org/econ-dev/partner-excellence.shtml
Partnership recipients are awarded $500 from their partner institution and receive a matching $500 OSRHE Economic Development Grant that may be used for the tuition of an employee of the business, a paid internship, a faculty externship, or purchase of equipment to enhance the partnership.