Sacramento State School of Nursing unveiled its donor wall and timeline gallery at Folsom Hall in a ceremony Nov. 21.

With the program recently moving into the new Folsom Hall in 2011, the School of Nursing celebrated the helped and donated to turn the once outdated nursing classrooms into high-tech facilities.

“This event gives us an ideal opportunity to highlight the important work we do at Sacramento State,” said Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez.

The wall included the names of all donors who contributed funds for equipment and classrooms in Folsom Hall.

Some of the donors included the Sierra Health Foundation, the California Endowment, Teichert Foundation, and alumni and community members.

The Crandell Gallery, named after donors George and Linda Crandell, consisted of class pictures of graduates from 1962 to now.

A timeline was also  part of the gallery, showing the accomplishments and advancements of the nursing program since its start at Sac State.

The gallery includes pledges signed by nursing graduates, who promise to perform their best in the field by following nursing ethics.

The first nursing class, in 1962, consisted of only nine graduates whereas in 2012, there were 5,297 nursing graduates.

Today the program is impacted. This fall, there were 416 applicants and out of the 135 students accepted,only 80 students enrolled.

The ceremony included tours of the new facilities, with student nurses explaining how simulator patients are monitored.

“It has become a state-of-the-art facility that supports teaching and learning for nursing students and professionals who work at hospitals, “ Gonzalez said. “At [Sac State] we’re proud [of] producing graduates who serve virtually in every neighborhood in the region.”

Sac State nursing alumna Jan Campbell graduated in 1971 and said she was amazed to see how advanced the nursing program is now.

Kathleen McCray Walker was also a Sac State nursing alumna who graduated in 1969.

McCray Walker said she was impressed by how the nursing program has changed since her days at Sac State.

“We had maybe one simulator and we pretty much had to practice on each other,” Walker said. “My first injection was on an orange. We didn’t have the skills [nursing students] have today.”

Fred Baldini, dean of the college of health and human services said the program recently got a simulator that sweats like a human being.

“We’ve always had an excellent nursing program,” Baldini said. “What Folsom Hall has done is allowed us to do so much more.”