Slippery Rock University’s nursing program provides students like Mylah O’Hanlon the opportunity to gain the hands-on technical skills and interpersonal intelligence medical professionals need to excel as providers and leaders.
O’Hanlon, a sophomore nursing major from Derry (Derry HS), entered into SRU’s new accelerated 1+2+1 program after spending time as on the pre-physician assistant student track while taking biology and chemistry courses. She instead preferred the patient-forward experiences offered by the new program, where an empathetic approach to patient care made the program the right fit.
“I work a lot better with people than I do with behind-the-scenes things,” O’Hanlon said. “My favorite part is being able to talk to my patients and their family members and see what I can do to make them feel better.”
O’Hanlon is one of 27 students in SRU’s 1+2+1 Bachelor of Science in Nursing program that launched in Fall 2025 where students take general education classes at SRU in their first year, earn their RN at a partner institution for the second and third years, and complete their BSN with SRU online by the end of their fourth year. Next year, SRU will begin offering a four-year BSN program.
Students participate in lecture-based learning and lab-simulated skills trainings like intravenous therapy practice and patient care techniques.
The nursing program also includes clinical practice, placing students like O’Hanlon at Heritage Valley Hospital in Beaver and other hospitals in the area. In the hospital, O’Hanlon can apply what she is learning about administering informed and empathetic nursing care for real patients.
“I really like working at the hospital because I get to actually work with people and make a difference in their lives,” O’Hanlon said. “I get to help them get through a hard time and vulnerable moments in their lives with what I’m doing.”
O’Hanlon knows the importance of personal connection in the hospital as well as the classroom—she says the nursing program feels like a family. She and her peers work closely together as a team for common goals and feel supported by their involved and accessible faculty.
“It’s really nice having a group of people you can rely on,” she said. “It’s exciting to be one of the first people to go through the program. I’m learning how to care for patients directly, and other hands-on skills that will set me apart.”
SRU’s nursing students will be educated through service in medical surgical nursing as well as rotations through operating rooms, outpatient care, maternity and pediatric settings. These requirements led O’Hanlon to discover where her passions lie: toward becoming a nurse practitioner.
“I want to go into maternity—I’ve been looking forward to that forever,” O’Hanlon said. “Even though we work in the hospital now, I’m excited to work with more than one patient at a time (as a future nurse).”
As SRU’s new degree option attracts more compassionate leaders, the frontrunners of the nursing program are already taking advantage of their unique opportunity to make a real-world personal impact.
O’Hanlon is also the first SRU students to receive The Louise and Art Williams Scholarship, established by Art Williams, ’64, in memory of his late wife, Louise Williams, to support the next generation of nursing professionals and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of SRU’s nursing program, which has produced 763 RN-to-BSN graduates in the last 10 years.
More information about nursing at SRU is available on the program webpage.
