New nursing degree brings Fort Lewis College, CU Anschutz together to teach Indigenous-focused health curriculum

A new partnership between two Colorado higher education institutions aims to tackle a shortage of Indigenous nurses while bolstering rural health care in the Four Corners region through a novel, culturally-competent four-year nursing degree at Durango’s Fort Lewis College. The program, expected to begin in the fall of 2023, will bring the nursing curriculum and professors from the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus to the Indigenous-serving college in southwest Colorado, said Amy Barton, CU Anschutz senior associate dean for faculty and students in the College of Nursing.