SPOKANE, Wash. — Breaking into the healthcare industry as a career may be more attainable in the Inland Northwest.
Whitworth University and Washington State University (WSU) are expanding an already 55-year partnership to provide a bigger range of health science degrees.
Whitworth’s connection to WSU’s College of Nursing will offer students guaranteed seats in some graduate programs.
Under the partnership agreement, Whitworth will have 10% of its slots in the physical therapy and occupational therapy doctoral programs normally reserved for students at WSU.
There will also be reserved spots for qualified Whitworth students in the pharmacy, nutrition, exercise physiology and coordinated dietetics programs at WSU.
Additionally, Whitworth nursing students could earn spots in WSU’s new master’s degree in nursing program in the spring of 2026.
These universities said they have a common goal of establishing a generational cohort that starts with high school recruitment, and ends with job placements in the Inland Northwest.
“We want to recruit local high school students into our undergraduate majors and then show them there are direct pathways to complete a graduate degree in Spokane,” Mike Ediger, dean of Whitworth’s School of Health Sciences, says. “Our alumni are going to both graduate and professional programs all over the country, which is great! But we’ve got fantastic graduate programs here in the region as well, and we want more students to be able to take advantage of these opportunities. They don’t have to leave!”
Learn more about Whitworth’s health sciences programs here.
Learn more about WSU’s health sciences programs here.
COPYRIGHT 2025 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
