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Record Number of Men Enrolled in BSN Class

BSN juniors Vasile Stana, left, and Marc
Silfies, right, study between classes.

Eight men were admitted to the BSN program this fall, bringing the total of male undergraduates to 12 – a School record. There are also 18 men enrolled in the master's program and three in the doctoral program. This is good news for nursing, a profession in which men have been seriously in the minority since the turn of the century, when more women began seeking professional careers outside the home. What draws men to nursing careers? Two new undergraduates who were interviewed for this issue offered some insights.

Marc Silfies has been a diver for the U.S. Navy for almost 15 years, a career that has led him to spend many hours in and around hyperbaric recompression chambers. "This is where I had my first experiences with patient care, which ultimately led me to nursing," he explains. After graduation, he will be a member of the USN Nurse Corps.

Vasile Stana is an immigrant from Romania who returned to his homeland in 1999 to help care for his ailing father, who died that year. "Since then I believe that health is the most important thing, and that the most ethical and rewarding job for me is to take care of other people, so that they won't have to suffer like my father." After graduation Stana intends to work in a hospital until he can open an adult family home business.

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