St. Luke’s University Health Network celebrated the opening of St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences on Monday, May 18.
The College, which operates on the campus of St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem, offers the following programs:
- Radiography (Associate Degree)
- Respiratory Care (Associate Degree)
- RN to BSN (Bachelor’s Degree)
In addition to its degree-granting programs, the College offers various general education courses.
The inaugural student class includes approximately 150 students across all programs and courses with 73 starting during the summer session and the remaining beginning this fall. One of these students is Brianne Swope, who is enrolled in the RN to BSN program and is a graduate of St. Luke’s School of Nursing.
Brianne began her journey as a volunteer before working in a nursing home from 2007 to 2020. While completing her prerequisites for the School of Nursing, she applied for a position with St. Luke’s Mental Health to get her foot in the door. She ultimately completed the School of Nursing program with full tuition reimbursement.
Since graduating, Brianne has continued her career in mental health at St. Luke’s Penn Foundation. She is grateful for the flexibility of the online RN to BSN program, which allows her to pursue her education while working full time. Brianne plans to remain with St. Luke’s after completing the RN to BSN program and hopes to continue working in mental health—a cause especially close to her heart.
Approval to establish St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences was granted in October 2025 by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, marking a strategic step that will shape the future of health care education and workforce development in the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
“This is a historic milestone for the Lehigh Valley,” said Mary Grace Simcox, EdD, RN, first president of St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences. “The launch of St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences reflects a bold commitment to strengthening our health care workforce by providing an affordable, local pathway to high-demand careers complete with guaranteed clinical placements, hands-on learning, small class sizes and clear opportunities for professional advancement.”
Respiratory Care and Radiography classes will be held at the Priscilla Payne Hurd Education Center, while the RN to BSN program will be offered fully online with a curriculum designed to support adult learners seeking non-traditional college experiences. Students will also have access to simulation and skills labs, study areas and library resources.
St. Luke’s longstanding partnerships with regional colleges and universities will continue while the new College expands the Network’s ability to address workforce shortages in critical health care roles by broadening access to education. Even with these strong partnerships, the need to establish an institution of higher learning is critical, Simcox said.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care and social assistance sector is projected to experience the largest job growth of any industry between 2024 and 2034, driven by an aging population and persistent workforce shortages. Meeting this demand requires strong, accessible education pathways that support individuals at every stage of their professional journey.
St. Luke’s has long been a leader in medical education, operating the oldest School of Nursing in the country, providing the only four-year medical school through The Temple St. Luke’s School of Medicine, and offering more than 60 Graduate Medical Education programs to prepare the next generation of physicians and advanced practitioners.
For more information or to apply, visit www.StLukesCollege.org.
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4.5 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley’s biggest employer.
The Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation’s oldest continuously operated School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows.
In 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ranked St. Luke’s #1 – ahead of Houston Methodist and Mayo Clinic, two of the nation’s most prestigious institutions – as the nation’s top health system for quality, safety and patient experience. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke’s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.
St. Luke’s has been named a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. It is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. In 2026, the Network earned straight A’s from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 11 years in a row, including in 2021 when its flagship University Hospital was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Gary Blockus
