As part of a tri-campus University of Washington system, the University of Washington Bothell (UWB) enjoys access to the outstanding resources of our prestigious university system while being small enough to provide a sense of community. Each of the three UW campuses has nursing programs and shares a tri-campus accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
The Seattle campus provides a pre-licensure BSN education along with their Masters and Doctoral programs of study. UW Bothell and UW Tacoma do not offer basic BSN education but rather provide access to RN to BSN completion and Master of Nursing degrees for registered nurses working in Washington State.
The history of the University Of Washington School Of Nursing in Seattle dates to 1916 when a nursing course was first offered through the Pre-Medical Department in what was then the College of Science. This course became the basis for the BSN degree in 1918. In 1929, the newly built King County Harborview Hospital and the University established a nursing program. This integrated four year nursing program was later expanded to incorporate two hospital diploma programs at Swedish Hospital (1946) and Virginia Mason Hospital (1950).
In 1945, the School of Nursing became an autonomous unit of the University of Washington together with the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine and Pharmacy. The four schools became the Division of Health Sciences within the University structure in 1946. Programs leading to the Master of Arts and Master of Nursing degrees were established in 1937.
In 1992 the first Bachelor of Science in Nursing completion program classes were offered at the University of Washington Bothell and now have graduated over 1000 BSN students. The University of Washington Bothell Master of Nursing program admitted the very first cohort in 2002; and now has over 80 alumni.
