School of Nursing

The School of Nursing offers a wide range of graduate degree options at the master’s and doctoral levels as well as advanced certificates. With a pioneering history in advancing the nursing discipline, the SON is committed to providing transformational education to strengthen healthcare delivery and improve the nation’s health in the new century. The result is our strategic commitment to build a culture of continuous learning that leverages a dynamic digital landscape featuring mobile and experiential learning. This creates active environments that are learner-centered and data-driven. In this rich milieu, learning occurs by doing, creating, and collaborating in a competency-driven curriculum. Students graduate prepared for lifelong learning and able to adapt in increasingly complex and interdependent healthcare environments. The vision of the SON is to lead the national agenda in transforming the discipline of nursing through innovative education, practice, and research to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities.

The mission and vision of the SON is framed by the unification model, which directs nursing education, research, and practice. Unification is not only a philosophical approach but also an organizational structure that operationalizes the interdependence among education, research, and practice, forging a critical link between scientific discovery and improved healthcare outcomes. Education empowers nurses with knowledge, attitudes, and skills for leadership in professional practice and research. Research develops nursing knowledge to strengthen education and promote evidence-based practice from which new understandings and inquiry questions emerge. The essence of the model defines the interactive, integrated, and multidirectional relationship among our three missions: education, research, and practice. It supports and defines our school philosophy of the importance of each of our missions and how our missions are interdependent.