Santa Fe Community College will train older nurses to become nursing instructors. Western Dakota Technical Institute will offer courses for boomers who want to become seasonal rangers and interpretative guides at national parks. And Community College of Spokane is launching an effort to match older adults with job vacancies in the region.

These innovative community colleges are among the 15 institutions designing programs to help older adults focus on new careers and continued engagement, thanks to a $3.2
million “Plus 50” grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies.

It came as a surprise to me when I learned that the problem (at least a big one) underlying the nursing shortage in this country is a shortage of nursing faculty to teach students interested in entering the field. A solution that came to mind immediately was the opportunity for older nurses to take up encore careers as nursing faculty in greater numbers.

The latest Chronicle of Higher Education reports the positive outcomes of a study of online Doctorates for nurses.