Charleston Southern University College of Nursing

Our Story

Charleston Southern University (CSU) has a long history of providing nursing education. During the 1970s and 1980s, the University offered a successful associate degree in nursing program. Although the University decided to cease operations of the nursing program in 1983, the idea of nursing remained on university officials’ minds.

Charleston Southern University conducted a feasibility study from August through December 1992 to determine if a baccalaureate-nursing program was possible. In January 1993, the Board of Trustees approved the beginning of a baccalaureate program at CSU, the College of Nursing (CON). Pre-nursing students began enrolling in the Fall of 1994. The first students were admitted into the nursing major in Fall 1995 with students admitted each subsequent Fall semester. The first students to receive a Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduated in May 1998.

The nursing curriculum is designed to meet the current and future needs of health care providers in an industry that continues to make significant changes in the way health care is delivered. The nursing curriculum is guided by the standards of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice (2008).

The Derry Patterson Wingo School of Nursing, now the College of Nursing, at Charleston Southern University, was named for the late Derry Patterson Wingo of Kline, South Carolina. Since the mid 1970s, both Mrs. Wingo and her husband, Henry, were strong supporters of the University. In Spring of 2013, the Board of Trustees approved the College of Nursing. The transition to a College included the addition of Kinesiology and Athletic Training programs. These programs were later housed under the College of Health Nursing and Allied Health, and in May 2014 the College of Nursing and Allied Health became the College of Nursing and the Allied Health programs were housed in the College of Health Sciences. The Accelerated BSN program was added to the College of Nursing in Fall 2019.