As an institution of higher education, the University of Northern Colorado responds to the need for workers at the local, regional and national levels.
UNC, like Aims Community College, contributes to the development of the workforce in a variety of ways. The university was built as a teacher’s college and continues to turn out teachers.
Lately, though, the Greeley school has shown and interest and focus in another important area of a society: health care.
UNC is building a college of osteopathic medicine — a massive, years-long effort continuing with the construction of a nearly $250 million building on campus. The proposed college is one piece of the university’s commitment to enhancing health care programs. University officials are also helping meet needs in audiology and nursing by increasing enrollment and enhancing the curriculum.
“With the advent of the college of osteopathic medicine that’s coming here, I don’t think I would be exaggerating to say that our university and especially our college is poised to become the primary producer of health care professionals in the Northern Colorado region and in neighboring states,” said Kamel Haddad, dean of UNC’s College of Natural and Health Sciences, where audiology and nursing are housed. “Especially in the rural states, Wyoming, Nebraska, western Kansas. The need is in rural areas and in all (of these) health care sectors.”
UNC now admits 132 students per year into its bachelor’s of science nursing program, up from 108. The school of nursing began adding to cohorts two years ago.
A November 2022 health workforce analysis published by the Health Resources and Services Administration projected a shortage of 11,290 registered nurses for Colorado this year. Looking ahead to 2030, the HRSA database reports an expected shortage of about 8,000 RNs.
University of Northern Colorado audiology students work with models to simulate how the human ear works at a Gunter Hall lab on the UNC campus in June 2025. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)UNC School of Nursing Director and professor Melissa Henry said most of the students coming out of the bachelor’s program go to work for large health care organizations such as UCHealth or Banner Health. Those students work in a variety of departments from emergency to specialty care.
“I think for decades there are numbers out nationally and regionally that document a nursing shortage,” Henry said. “It’s hard to keep up with the workforce because as nurses retire in age or go into different places, the health care needs are always fluctuating. NoCo (Northern Colorado) is special because we’re growing, at least we have been, so the needs have gone up … and so there’s more of a demand for nurses than there ever has been.”
Adding students to the program requires addressing multiple factors, primarily instruction, space and preceptorships. Preceptorships are the clinical experience, similar to a medical student’s clinical rotation while in school.
Haddad said UNC can’t wave a magic wand and automatically add sections for nursing students. The college has to have qualified instructors, and it must adhere to set numbers in a lab. The fall cohort was divided to manage the space issues and preceptorships. Additional expansion would require approval from the state.
“We have it set up where we could expand if we wanted to do more,” Henry added. “We’ve got the space, we’ve got the clinicals, we got all the faculty alignment. We did it kind of in small steps so that it wouldn’t throw wrenches into the system.”
The College of Natural and Health Science made changes to the audiology doctoral program, including modernizing the curriculum, to provide a more competitive experience for students.
The program now has a simulation lab for students to use in a practice setting before moving to a clinic. Administrators also reduced the duration of the program from four to three years, Haddad said
An audiologist specializes in diagnosing, treating and managing auditory and vestibular disorders — the latter affecting balance. At UNC, audiology is studied in the communication sciences and disorders program within the College of Natural and Health Sciences.
University of Northern Colorado audiology students simulate with a baby to understand hearing issues while in a lab in June 2025 at Gunter Hall on the UNC campus in Greeley. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)“There is more awareness of the relationship between hearing loss and cognitive ability,” Haddad said. “That research is becoming more and more prevalent, and people realize it. There is also a lot of research around … getting people to actually admit that, yes, they have a problem (with hearing). There’s lots of pride around it.”
An audiologist is a career with an 11% projected growth rate through 2033, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The mean percentage across all jobs is 4%. Audiology has a mean salary of $82,680.
Audiology assistant professor Hannah Glick said hearing loss affects about two to three of 1,000 babies born each year in the U.S. Hearing loss becomes more common with age. Teenagers may suffer from noise-induced hearing loss sometimes caused by from listening to music too loud through earbuds. In adults 65 and older, hearing loss is the third most common health condition following high blood pressure and arthritis, Glick said.
Glick’s academic research and study interests are in brain and cognitive changes with hearing loss. An untreated mild hearing loss leads to twice the risk of developing dementia. Moderate hearing increases the risk to three times that of other adults, and severe hearing loss makes an adult five times as likely to develop dementia, Glick said.
There are several hypotheses about the link between hearing loss and dementia. One hypothesis is that social isolation as a result of hearing loss can lead to brain atrophy. Another hypothesis is known as cognitive load theory.
“The brain is a gas tank, and if so much energy is focused on listening, it can affect memory,” Glick said.
Henry said UNC regularly keeps in touch with a consortium of medical professionals to stay on top of industry trends in nursing, the needs and how to collaborate. The consortium was assembled in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to address nursing shortages that were then a national matter. UNC leads the consortium, which is chaired by Henry and meets monthly.
The other representatives in the consortium are Front Range Community College, Aims Community College, Banner Health, Columbine Health Systems and Northern Colorado Rehabilitation Hospital, Henry said.
“But with the partners in this region, they’re building more hospitals,” Henry said. “They’re expanding. MCR (Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland) has got another tower they’re building, and so the beds are going to increase.”
Management professor Isaac Wanasika is overseeing a grant for the Monfort College of Business to look at ways the university may contribute to workforce development in Weld County and surrounding areas.
In 2023, UNC was one of 50 schools to receive a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity grant encourages minority-serving institutions, two-year institutions, primarily undergraduate institutions and other emerging research institutions to participate in and strengthen regional innovation ecosystems, according to UNC.
Wanasika said the grant in part is to help the schools figure out how to align curriculum with needs of the community.
The work will focus on conversations with members of the local workforce, specifically those in blue collar jobs who may not have a high school or college diploma.
Wanasika said the results of the studies will be shared as widely as possible — including with Aims, the city of Greeley and Weld County.
“We want to find ways of upskilling and re-skilling them so they can have better career choices, earn better salaries and improve their lives,” Wanasika said. “That’s the purpose of the workforce development study, is to better understand the needs of both employers and employees.”
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