When Afua O. Arhin arrived at Fayetteville State University (FSU) to take over the nursing program in the fall of 2010, the program had been suspended due to low pass rates on the national nursing licensure exam.
But instead of viewing the problems at the beleaguered nursing program as a liability, Arhin viewed them as an opportunity to prove her mettle.
“I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what drew me to the position,” Arhin — former associate dean of the School of Nursing at Grambling State University and a former faculty member at Florida A&M University — tells Diverse. “I’m one of those strange people that likes challenges.”
Soon after she became department chair, Arhin — who received a master’s from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida — put together a new team and helped lead an effort to raise entry standards and overhaul the curriculum.
She says the fact that the program was inactive made it easier to bring it back to life.
“It’s very difficult to implement changes when you have a program that has its own philosophy,” Arhin says. “But when you come in and have a blank slate and you can recruit people that have the same philosophy and same perceptions of student outcomes as you, it makes it a lot easier.”
Indeed, whereas just a few years ago the nursing program at FSU was on the brink of becoming extinct, the program has since bounced back in a spectacular way.
