San Antonio Express-News

The Galen School of Nursing in San Antonio will graduate its first class of registered nurses in ceremonies at 7 tonight at the St. Paul Community Center, 1201 Donaldson Ave.

Twenty-nine students have completed Galen’s 15-month licensed vocational nurse-to-registered nurse bridge program. The program was approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Board of Nursing in 2008 after state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, sponsored an amendment to the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners sunset bill in 2007 to resolve a logjam in the approval process for the registered-nurse degree program.

Villarreal will speak at tonight’s graduation ceremony, along with Mayor Julián Castro. Galen also operates nurse schools in Tampa, Fla., and Louisville, Ky. The San Antonio school has more than 600 students and more than 80 general education and nursing faculty members.