Dani Eveloff, the recruitment coordinator for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, showed a picture of mixed-gender nurses and doctors to a group of elementary school kids during the summer.
"The kids said all the men were doctors and all the women were nurses," Eveloff said.
In reality, the picture showed nurses and doctors who were both men and women.
Nationally, 5 percent of nurses are males. UNMC's enrollment for males in the nursing program is 10 percent.
UNMC officials said it's no longer taboo for men to be nurses, and those officials are working to attract more men to their classrooms.
Eveloff said UNMC already revamped the marketing materials used to recruit nursing majors.
"We changed the color of brochures and other materials from pink, teal and peach to red, black and gray," she said. "And research shows that men like these colors."
It's just a coincidence that red is a Nebraska color, she said.
In addition to the color changes, Eveloff said, recruiters added pictures of nurses who are male to eight different brochures.
And the advertising has paid off. In 1999, there were only 19 males in the undergraduate program. Now there are 69 men enrolled in the nursing program, and UNMC has seen a 75 percent increase in male applicants.
Although UNMC has made progress in recruitment, Steve Pitkin, the assistant dean at the University of Nebraska at Kearney College of Nursing, said he still wishes there were more men in the nursing program.
"It's becoming much more acceptable for men to be nurses," Pitkin said. "It's not as big of a deal as it used to be."
Jonathan Brunott, a junior nursing major, said he chose his major because he always wanted to help people.
"I feel that nurses have a closer relationship to their patients because the nurses are the ones that are by the patients bedside 24/7," he said.
Brunott said he isn't sure what he wants to do after he graduates, but his possibilities are endless.
Right now there are excellent career opportunities because of a major shortage in nurses, Pitkin said.
Graduate nursing students can become nurse practitioners, clinical specialists, anesthesiologists or nursing professors.
"If you come into nursing, you are guaranteed 100 jobs when you graduate," Eveloff said.
Currently, UNMC has three male faculty members in its nursing college - and it's recruiting even more.
"It's important for our guys to have a role model," Pitkin said.
Pitkin said he believes men and women see the world differently, and it's good to have different viewpoints in the classroom from both faculty members and students.
Eveloff said the nursing students who are male are very comfortable in the classroom and know they are appreciated.
Brunott agreed.
"Any guy would say that it is great working in a predominately female profession. And let me tell you, it is," Brunott said. "But we're all there because we want to be nurses. It doesn't matter what sex you are."
