UMSL has partnered with the U.S. Army to create a pathway for 68Charlies to earn a BSN in two years. The program is the result of a close collaboration between the university’s Enrollment Management department and College of Nursing and the Gateway Battalion. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
The University of Missouri–St. Louis has announced a new partnership with the U.S. Army to create a pathway for Army Practical Nursing Specialists (also known as 68Charlies) who have trained as LPNs to earn a BSN in two years.
The new program was inspired by Sergeant Sebastion Mauzy, a current UMSL student and LPN who was selected for the U.S. Army’s Green to Gold program but faced challenges using his transcripts with traditional college credits to complete an upper-level nursing program. The university ultimately decided to create a standard, accessible pathway for Mauzy and 68Charlies like him to use their Joint Service Transcripts for credit to transfer into the BSN program at UMSL.
“This got us thinking, what if we were able to turn this into an actual program of record that would build a pipeline for 68Charlies to become an RN in two years?” said Lieutenant Colonel Sean Hill of the Gateway Battalion and St. Louis Army ROTC. “We immediately went back to the nursing department to see what would need to be done to make Mauzy not the exception but the beginning of a program that would open up a new and unprecedented way for working professional LPNs in the army with no college background to advance their careers in a way that was previously impossible.”
Approved by the Missouri State Board of Nursing and the University of Missouri System, the 68Charlie LPN-to-BSN bridge program allows U.S. Army service members to capitalize on their LPN training and experience to pursue a BSN degree. Over 15 months in the making, the new pathway is the culmination of a close partnership between Lieutenant Colonel Hill, UMSL Vice Chancellor for Strategic Enrollment and Career Advancement Reggie Hill, Executive Director of Enrollment Management Megan Green Simonds, Gateway Battalion Recruitment Operations Officer Lee Rodriguez and the College of Nursing’s Interim Dean Alicia Hutchings, Associate Dean for Student Affairs Cara Doerr and Assistant Teaching Professor Joshua Minks.
“Nursing is not experiencing a shortage of people who want to care for others,” Hutchings said. “What we have is a shortage of pathways – clear, accessible, affordable, pathways that allow talented, experienced clinicians to advance without having to walk away from the lives that they’ve already built. The LPN-to-RN bridge has existed as a concept in our profession for years, but too often, the execution has fallen short. We designed this program by first asking a simple but too often overlooked question: ‘Who is our student?’ The answer to that shapes everything.”
UMSL Assistant Teaching Professor Jinnie Tkach gives a tour of the College of Nursing SIM Labs, including the pediatric lab, to members of active and reserve components of the U.S. Army, including potential students of the new LPN-to-BSN program.
Under the new program, qualified U.S. Army LPNs may receive academic credit for their 68Charlie education completed at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston to enter UMSL’s BSN program as a junior. The program provides an accelerated path to a BSN degree, with all classes and clinicals held in the St. Louis area. Students receive $1,200 for textbooks and $6,000 for housing annually and can choose between the Army ROTC officer commissioning or traditional BSN student track. To qualify, applicants must:
- have completed the U.S. Army’s MOS-68C Training Program as evidenced by Joint Service Transcript
- be able to attend nursing classes in person and participate in clinical rotations at assigned facilities in the St. Louis area
- possess an unencumbered LPN license
The unique program provides a direct path from 68Charlie to BSN and is the only one in the nation to grant full JST credits and offer two years’ of coursework in a traditional classroom. Lieutenant Colonel Lynn Bowser, chief nurse for the 303rd Field Hospital under the 807th Theater Medical Command, said she has been trying to get such a program started for over a decade.
“When we invest in our 68Charlie soldiers and support their progress from BSN to prepared nurses, we’re developing leaders who bring both medical expertise and military understanding,” Bowser said. “The Army Nurse Corps motto says it best: embrace the past, engage the present and envision the future. This program does all three. It honors the service and experience the soldiers already bring. It addresses the nursing needs we face today and helps build the next generation of Army nurses.”
The 68Charlie to BSN program will officially launch in fall 2026. It marks a significant step in creating an accessible pathway for 68Charlies to leverage their experience and advance their nursing skills while also building workforce needs for trained nurses and improving patient care in the St. Louis region and beyond.
