Cedarville University without a nursing program? Without it, the past 40 years might have been a science desert. But an oasis of growth began in 1982 when the first class of nursing students arrived at Cedarville College. Since that time, Cedarville has grown in its number of professional and healthcare programs, become a university, and seen its enrollment climb from 1,800 to over 5,000. "If you ask, what would Cedarville be today without nursing,” said Paul Dixon, who was in the fourth year of his presidency in 1982, “you pretty much take out most of our major science programs and what makes Cedarville have its identity as a conservative Christian liberal arts institution.” Engineering came next with programs in electrical, mechanical, computer, and, most recently, civil, plus computer science and cyber operations. Now the proliferation of healthcare programs continues to put Cedarville on a plane uncommon among Christian universities. "As we started with nursing, and then all the sciences that followed, it gave Cedarville a special niche,” Dixon said. “And I argue all success in business or higher education or churches, you have to have your niche. And we did.” BY J EFF G I LBERT ’ 87 Cedarville continues to carve a broader healthcare niche. A natural supplement to the bachelor’s degree was the addition of a master’s degree in 2011, with four concentrations. Nursing is the largest Cedarville Magazine | 25
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