More men enter nursing at St. Joseph’s College in Syracuse
More men are enrolling at St. Joseph’s College of Nursing in Syracuse as New York’s nurse shortage deepens and schools race to widen the pipeline.
At St. Joseph’s College of Nursing in Syracuse, the growing number of men in scrubs has become a visible sign of a deeper workforce strain. The school says male enrollment has risen significantly over the last decade, and one graduating class grew from about 14 men in 2015 to about 20 last year.
The shift is especially notable during National Nurses Week, when the profession is often celebrated for compassion and care. Nancy Poole, the college’s academic dean, has said nursing is increasingly seen as a flexible career with paths into hospital work, home care and advanced roles such as nurse practitioner, not as a job reserved for women. At St. Joseph’s, that broader view is helping change who sees a future in nursing.
The timing matters in Onondaga County and across New York State, where health systems still face acute staffing pressure. The New York State Department of Health issued acute labor supply shortage determinations for certified nurse aides, licensed practical nurses and registered nurses on March 14, 2025, and again on February 9, 2026. In March 2026, the Center for Health Workforce Studies reported that RN production in New York had remained relatively steady over the last five years, with a slight increase in new RN graduations from 2020 to 2024, but said nursing education programs still face capacity and staffing challenges.
St. Joseph’s College of Nursing offers weekday and evening/weekend options leading to an Associate in Applied Science degree in nursing, giving students more than one route into the profession. That matters in a city like Syracuse, where hospitals, clinics and home-care providers all compete for the same limited pool of licensed workers. Data from 2023 show the college’s students completed the program within normal time, but the path is still expensive, with most undergraduates relying on loans and many also receiving grants.
The broader labor picture is no less stark. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration has said the nursing workforce is becoming more diverse, but shortages are projected to grow through 2036. A 2024 Center for Health Workforce Studies analysis of New York acute-care hospitals found burnout, stress, violence, bullying and incivility were major problems for nurses already on the job.
At St. Joseph’s, the rising number of men does not solve those shortages on its own. But it does show that more people are willing to enter a field Central New York still depends on, and that widening the pipeline may be one of the few practical ways to keep pace with demand.
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