Nova Southeastern University expanded its high-quality academic services in Southwest Florida in September when it moved into a brand new four-story, 60,000-square-foot student educational center in Ft. Myers. Conveniently located on the southeast corner of Colonial Boulevard and Interstate 75, this student educational center is designed to serve Ft. Myers, Naples and Cape Coral, one of the fastest growing regions in Florida.
This center has 19 classrooms, three computer labs, nine videoconferencing suites, wireless internet access throughout and a multi-purpose room with seating capacity of 1,180. These amenities are being provided to meet the growing needs of students enrolled in our associates, bachelors, masters and doctoral programs. We offer 34 programs that include education, criminal justice, information technology, mental health counseling, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, human services administration, physician assistant, nursing, among others.
For our health programs that are offered through NSUs College of Allied Health and Nursing, the student educational center is equipped with 12 patient simulation exam rooms, six exam rooms with video recording, a physical diagnostic lab and a 10-bed nursing lab. Our nursing programs, which offer an entry-level B.S.N. (bachelor of science in nursing) degree and an R.N. (registered nurse) to B.S.N. degree, are two of the fastest growing nursing programs in Florida. These degrees are intended to provide entry-level students as well as experienced nurses with opportunities to become qualified at the degree level. Our goal is to provide highly-trained graduates to meet Southwest Floridas nursing shortage. NSUs last three graduating baccalaureate classes boasted an average passing score of 97.4 percent on the National Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses — the second highest overall score among 20 Florida universities with nursing programs. Currently, NSU provides Southwest Florida with about 120 new nurses a year.
Our physician assistant program is supplying graduates for one of the fastest-growing areas of health care. Physician assistants, who are health care professionals licensed to practice medicine with a doctors supervision, are employed in the second fastest growing job in the country for college-educated workers, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, full-time physician assistants in clinical practice earned a median income of $74,264 in 2004.
Students in our education programs have opportunities to get a wide-range of degrees from the associate to the doctoral level. They can specialize in early childhood education, elementary education, educational leadership, special education, just to name a few. These classes are offered through NSUs
Fischer School of Education and Human Services, one of the largest educator of teachers in the nation. The Fischer School has been providing top-notch teachers and administrators for schools in Southwest Florida.
Beyond the high-quality education and the impressive facilities, the new Ft. Myers Student Educational Center will allow NSU to further boost its already significant economic impact on the Southwest Floridas economy both in terms of education standard and new job creation. Nova Southeastern University is proud to serve the people of Southwest Florida. Our new facility will be a valuable resource for the community for decades, and its conveniently located to provide access for everyone.
Nova Southeastern University expanded its high-quality academic services in Southwest Florida in September when it moved into a brand new four-story, 60,000-square-foot student educational center in Ft. Myers. Conveniently located on the southeast corner of Colonial Boulevard and Interstate 75, this student educational center is designed to serve Ft. Myers, Naples and Cape Coral, one of the fastest growing regions in Florida. 
