The new College of Health Science sign is displayed inside Pepperdine’s Calabasas Campus on Aug. 11. The new School of Nursing facilities were built inside what was previously storage space in the building. Photos by Melissa Houston
Correction: A non-reporter error appeared in the Aug. 14 article “Pepperdine College of Health Science Welcomes Inaugural Cohorts.” The acronym “CHS” has been corrected to “PCHS” to reflect the title preferred by the University.
The last time a new school opened at Pepperdine was in 1997. This fall, two new schools are opening their doors: the School of Nursing and School of Speech-Language Pathology (SLP).
Both belong to the new Pepperdine College of Health Science (PCHS), which was first announced in March 2024. The School of Nursing’s two programs begin alongside undergraduates Aug. 18. SLP programs — which are mostly online — begin Sept. 2.
“It’s so exciting to be part of something bigger than ourselves,” said Angel Coaston, founding dean of the School of Nursing.
Pepperdine School of Nursing
The School of Nursing includes a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and a seven-semester Entry Level Master’s in Nursing, Clinical Nurse Leader (ELM-CNL), each consisting of hundreds of hours of clinical training, according to the PCHS website.
The ELM-CNL is intended for students with non-nursing bachelor’s degrees looking to enter the nursing profession, according to the PCHS website. Along the way, it will qualify students for the NCLEX-RN exam, the Clinical Nurse Leader certification exam and a public health nurse certification. Its third year’s coursework centers on building nursing leadership skills.
Third- and fourth-year BSN courses and all ELM-CNL courses will be held at the Pepperdine Calabasas Campus, which was extensively renovated over the past year to allow for specialized laboratory space, Coaston said. The facility includes more than a dozen manikins (anatomical humanlike models) which allow students to simulate various caregiving procedures, such as delivering a baby or treating a child patient.
A high-fidelity manikin “breathes” in a School of Nursing simulation room Aug. 11. Nursing students can take its pulse and listen to its heartbeat, among other bodily functions controlled through an iPad.
Thirty-eight first-year undergraduates are part of the bachelor’s program’s inaugural cohort, Coaston said. The BSN also offers a two-year transfer pathway for students who previously completed all prerequisite courses; this semester, nine students are beginning this route.
Coaston, appointed to her position in July 2024, said she was grateful to be working with Pepperdine because of the University’s integration of faith into health education.
“I really believe that Pepperdine School of Nursing is going to change the future of nursing,” Coaston said.
The School of Nursing currently employs six professors: Ashley Steere, Shaya Baird, Sydney Parker, Louella Graham, Johnelle Opel and Michael Jermakian.
Steere, who is teaching the Health Assessment class this semester, said she was looking forward to teaching the first-ever cohort of Pepperdine nursing students.
“You get to be the first, you’re the pioneers of it,” Steere said. “I hope it’s exciting for the students. It’s really exciting for the faculty to come alongside this journey with them in the beginning.”
Coaston said the School of Nursing has coordinated clinical affiliations with about 26 hospitals and community-based organizations across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Cedars-Sinai. Students in both of its programs will be required to provide direct patient care in the medical/surgical, psychiatric/mental health, obstetrics, pediatrics and gerontology specialties, according to the PCHS website.
Pepperdine School of Speech-Language Pathology
The School of SLP includes a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program (MS SLP), with a Post Baccalaureate Speech-Language Pathology Foundations program for those who still need to take additional undergraduate courses to qualify for an SLP Master’s degree. Through this coursework, graduates will earn eligibility for the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology, according to the PCHS website.
The MS SLP program has a five-trimester full-time option and an eight-trimester part-time option. Each trimester lasts 15 weeks, and the School will continue enrolling new students each term, said Leah Fullman, the School of SLP founding dean.
Medical supplies sit in a patient counter room inside Pepperdine’s Calabasas Campus on Aug. 11. Eight of these rooms were built for students to practice giving physical examinations to patient actors.
SLP students will have three week-long on-site experiences: one during the first week of the program, one roughly halfway through and one during the final week of the program, Fullman said. The School will coordinate 400 supervised clinical hours at hospitals, nursing homes, private practices and public schools for students through a rotation designed to give experience working with a wide age range of patients.
The fall cohort is set to have 50 students, most of which live in southern California, Fullman said. Students’ clinical experiences will be local to them, regardless of where they live.
Fullman, who previously guided development of more than half a dozen health science programs at Faulkner University, said she couldn’t wait to meet the new cohort of students.
“We hope that we can further that tradition of academic excellence and the integration of faith that Pepperdine does so well in the field of speech-language pathology,” Fullman said.
Future Plans
Pepperdine Provost Jay Brewster, who helped spearhead the College of Health Science, told the Graphic in early 2024 that three more major programs were already in the works. One of these, the School of Physician Assistant Studies (SPAS), appointed Amy Bronson as its founding dean in May, according to a June 6 press release.
Pepperdine is planning to welcome its first SPAS cohort in August 2027, according to a document intended for SPAS dean applicants. It will include a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies degree program.
Other future expansions will include programs for physical therapy, occupational therapy and additional allied health professions, according to the document.
As of now, different programs are at varying stages of their respective accreditation processes.
The California Board of Registered Nursing accredited the School of Nursing’s two programs in late May, according to a May 28 email PCHS founding dean Michael Feltner sent to the Pepperdine community. The MS SLP program is a “Candidate for Accreditation” with its respective accreditor, which is a preaccreditation status it will hold for three to five more years before becoming fully accredited, Fullman said.
__________________
Follow the Graphic on X: @PeppGraphic
Contact Henry Adams via X: (@henrygadams) or by email: henry.adams@pepperdine.edu
