AUGUSTA -- As nursing students Bobbi Jo Dever and Jennifer McKenzie practiced dressing a mannequin's wound Wednesday in a nursing lab at the University of Maine at Augusta, they struggled briefly to find all the necessary supplies.

With the start of classes at UMA last week, nursing students and faculty members alike found themselves adjusting to new space for the campus' growing nursing program.

During the summer, staff members moved the program's classrooms and laboratory space into the rear section of the Augusta Civic Center, swapping places with the school's justice studies program and the Maine Institute for Public Safety Innovation.

The move was largely intended to place nursing classrooms, lab facilities and equipment in one location, said program coordinator Nancy Cooley. The change in quarters should also ease the program's expansion as it begins in January to enroll students in a bachelor's degree program.

The University of Maine System Board of Trustees approved the school's request in May to offer a bachelor's degree in nursing. This fall, the college is accepting applications from registered nurses seeking to enroll in the expanded program.

The college will be the only central Maine institution offering a bachelor's degree in nursing.

"I think the bachelor's degree is coming at the right time," said Dever, of Waldoboro, on track to graduate from the nursing program in December with an associate's degree.

Interest in the college's nursing program is rising, Cooley said: "It continues to grow."

The program currently enrolls 140 students, Cooley said. In the fall of 2007, it was UMA's fourth largest associate's degree program.

The waiting list for admission is even larger, totaling 263 students, according to Cooley. At its current capacity, the program would not accommodate all students on the waiting list for two years. "All the nursing programs in Maine are facing a lot of demand for (student) placement," Cooley said.

As applications and enrollment numbers rise, all of the state's six community college nursing programs -- which offer associate's degrees -- are oversubscribed, according to community college system spokeswoman Helen Pelletier.

The U.S. Department of Labor considers nursing one of the fastest growing professions nationwide. And the Organization of Maine Nurse Executives reported in 2004 that Maine's nursing shortage was nearly twice the national average.

Cooley said the bachelor's program will allow UMA to grow its nursing program enrollment. And she said UMA plans to work with local hospitals to provide more clinical practice opportunities for nursing students. "We have to work with the hospitals to see where and how we can add students to try to increase enrollments," Cooley said.

At UMA, the bachelor's degree in nursing comes as the college continues its transition to offer more bachelor's than associate's degrees.

The top two employers of UMA-educated nurses -- MaineGeneral Health facilities in Augusta and Waterville, and Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport -- have told college officials they seek more nurses with bachelor's degrees.

Although MaineGeneral does not require bachelor's degrees in nursing for patient-care positions, the company prefers placing nurses with bachelor's degrees in management positions, said Susan Pierter, MaineGeneral's public and government relations director.

The college's bachelor's program will include classes -- in community health, nursing leadership and management, nursing research and pharmacology -- that are not included in the current associate's degree curriculum, Cooley said.

McKenzie, a nursing student from Farmingdale, said she got interested in enrolling in the college's bachelor's program when she first learned about it.

It will be more convenient to pursue the degree at UMA, she said, rather than traveling to Bangor or Portland.

"I think it will be more knowledge base," McKenzie said. "I think you have more opportunities as a BS-degree nurse rather than an associate's degree nurse."

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com