School of Nursing: Graduate Programs
Currently, the profession of nursing is undergoing many transformative, positive changes. With these changes comes the necessary modification of the programs that educate graduate-level nurses across the country. Specifically, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has made two ground-breaking decisions that affect all schools of nursing in the United States:
(1) The development and implementation of a new nursing role at the master’s level: The Clinical Nurse Leader.
(2) The conversion of all programs that educate advanced practice nurses (e.g. nurse practitioners) from the master’s level to the clinical doctorate level by 2015. See the AACN website for more information on the Doctor of Nursing Practice.
The School of Nursing wholeheartedly supports these changes and this new direction of nursing education. We offer a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) master’s program and a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program with a Family Nurse Practitioner population focus. You can be on the cutting-edge of the nursing education wave of the future by joining our CNL program today! Or, if you are interested in earning your DNP degree at the University of Portland, you can look forward to being part of an equally innovative, unique program in advanced practice nursing. The DNP program emphasizes integrative health, caring for the poor and eliminating health disparities.
In addition to the CNL master’s program option and the DNP program, we are excited to announce the opening of a new master’s program option: The Nurse Educator. We will admit our first cohort of Nurse Educator students in Summer (May) 2013. Requests from students and employers have led to the opening of this new track. Additional support for this program of study comes from the well-documented nursing faculty shortage and the shortage of clinical educators prepared in education theory and practice. Graduates are prepared to work in both academic and clinical settings.
Our personalized approach to education, small class sizes, a blended course delivery model of monthly in-person immersion weekends and web-based learning modalities, an integrative health focus that promotes health and healing using multiple modalities and our dedication to your success are the major reasons students come to the University of Portland School of Nursing for graduate study. Explore the links below and please feel free to contact us at 503-943-7211 or nursing@up.edu with any questions. We look forward to helping you pursue your professional career goals!
