A Decade of Nursing at Montclair

Ten years ago, Montclair State University welcomed its first class of nursing students: 54 registered nurses who came to campus with a shared goal of continuing their education.

The School of Nursing was established to provide working nurses with an opportunity to earn their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees and take the next step in their careers. 

“These nurses trusted us with their education and professional futures,” says Janice Smolowitz, Dean of the School of Nursing. “We knew their names, respected their experiences, and became a community. That was when I began to understand what this School could become.”

A decade later, the School has grown alongside its students and the nursing profession. What began with one RN-to-BSN cohort now includes undergraduate and graduate pathways for students preparing to enter nursing and nurses looking to advance their education.

Growing with its students

Since welcoming its first cohort in 2016, the School has created new ways for students to pursue nursing at different points in their lives and careers.

The year after the School opened, it welcomed 50 freshmen into its four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. For those students, Montclair offered a place to begin their nursing education and prepare to enter the profession.

Graduate programs followed, creating opportunities for registered nurses to advance their education and for people with degrees in other fields to enter the profession. The School expanded those options with an online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), giving working nurses more flexibility to pursue a graduate degree while continuing to care for patients. Most recently, the University announced its first online doctoral program, the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), extending the School’s offerings to the doctoral level.

Behind each new program are the students who have chosen Montclair as the place to take their next step, whether they are beginning college, changing careers or building on years of nursing experience.

In 2022, 22 graduates of Montclair’s four-year nursing program received their nursing pins live on NBC’s TODAY at Rockefeller Center as part of the show’s Nurses Week coverage. Three graduates also shared what drew them to nursing and how the pandemic brought their class closer together.

Supporting students and building community

As the School has grown, faculty and staff have worked to create a community where students feel supported throughout their education and prepared for the next step in their careers.

Students learn from faculty members who bring their own experiences in health care into the classroom and clinical settings. In the School’s simulation center, they practice their skills in environments modeled on hospitals and community settings before applying what they’ve learned through clinical experiences.

“One of the things that I think is our superpower here is that we have a lot of faculty members who actually work in these organizations we take our students to,” says Elsie Alabi-Gonzalez, BSN ’18, MSN ’21, an assistant teaching professor in the School of Nursing. “We already have relationships with these organizations and the people [in these organizations], which creates a great opportunity for our students to have as seamless an experience as possible.”

Through clinical placements, students see how nurses work with other health care professionals and apply what they’ve practiced in the simulation center to patient care. For some students, a clinical placement can also become the beginning of a career after graduation.

That preparation has helped students take the next step toward becoming nurses. In 2025, 94% of Montclair students who took the National Council Licensure Examination passed on their first attempt.

“Our responsibility is not simply to prepare nurses for the healthcare system that exists today,” Smolowitz says. “It is to prepare them to help create the healthcare system that should exist tomorrow, and that requires us to look beyond our own walls, learning from colleagues around the world while remaining deeply connected to the local communities we serve.”

From its first class of registered nurses to the students preparing to enter the profession today, the School’s story has been shaped by the people who have been part of it — and by the communities its graduates go on to serve.

As the School of Nursing celebrates its first 10 years, it is also looking ahead to the nurses it will educate and the relationships it will continue to build in the years to come.