Mission Statement and School Goals

The School of Nursing promotes the general mission of the university and the college, developing educated persons, by providing students the opportunity to think critically, solve problems, communicate effectively, develop self-responsibility and grow personally as engaged citizens within a pluralistic global society. The school offers community-based programs leading to professional nursing practice that is culturally competent, safe and evidence-based.

• The four-year BSN degree is based on knowledge from the arts, sciences and humanities and clinical experience in a variety of settings with diverse populations.
• The BSN-completion program builds upon technical nursing education and is enriched by courses in the liberal arts and diverse clinical experiences.

Building upon baccalaureate nursing education, the graduate programs prepare nurses for advanced practice and teaching roles.

• The MSN-nurse educator program provides an opportunity for exceptional students to progress from entry-level nursing to graduate study in an accelerated format.
• The BSN to DNP prepares family nurse practitioners to be community leaders in addressing health disparities.
• The post-master’s DNP builds on the students’ previous advanced practice degree and prepares them as community leaders in addressing health disparities.

The school promotes an educational environment that develops ethical nursing leadership, cultural competence, community engagement and encourages life-long learning and the spirit of inquiry. Access to professional nursing education is facilitated through innovative educational technology.

The scholarly mission of the university, college and school is accomplished through the promotion of faculty and student scholarship. Faculty and student scholarship of integration, application, discovery and teaching address health and health care delivery from the individual to the system level. In all types of scholarship, the faculty encourage the direct and indirect involvement of students.

Service is accomplished through the involvement of faculty and students in academic, professional and community service, with an emphasis on underserved, vulnerable populations and health disparities.

• Our faculty serves as experts and role models in nursing education, practice and scholarship.
• Both our faculty and students participate in the governance of the university by serving on university, college and school committees.

We believe that professional nursing is a science and art built on a framework of ethical and professional standards. Our knowledge of nursing science, practice and scholarship, incorporates life experiences and builds upon the work of liberal arts and science. Its core values include:

• Caring
• Altruism
• Autonomy
• Human dignity
• Integrity
• Social justice
• Respect and acceptance of diversity

Nursing’s unique body of knowledge incorporates life experiences and builds upon theories and principles from the liberal arts and sciences, as well as from nursing science, practice, and scholarship. The faculty believe that nursing is an autonomous and collaborative discipline that practices within a framework of ethical and professional standards.

As members of a practice discipline, nurses provide care in a variety of roles to clients in diverse settings, such as in the role of care provider, designer, manager and coordinator of care to clients.

As members of a profession, nurses have a commitment to professional development and life-long learning. At the master’s level, nurses are prepared for advanced roles as nurse educator, leader and clinician. At the doctorate level, nurses implement advanced roles as clinician, scholar, leaders, consultants and policy makers as system level change agents.

Through the use of critical thinking, therapeutic communication and technical skills, nurses, using systematic approaches, assist clients in meeting health care needs.

• At the undergraduate level, professional nurses are prepared to assess health care needs, to design nursing care, and to provide, manage, and evaluate health care.

Building upon undergraduate education, graduate programs prepare professional nurses for advanced nursing roles as family nurse practitioners and nurse educators.

• Nurse educators facilitate the teaching-learning process of individuals and groups in a variety of settings.
• Family nurse practitioners provide primary care across the life span.
• At the doctorate level, advanced practice nurses are able to work with individual health concerns, as well as diverse population groups and systems to promote improved health outcomes.

• Are unique holistic beings composed of physiological, psychological, spiritual, social and cultural dimensions that are in continuous interaction with the environment. 
• Have inherent dignity and self-worth, and continue to grow and develop across the life span. 
• Are self-determining but function interdependently with other individuals, families and communities. 
• Have the potential capacity to achieve health literacy, reduce risk, prevent disease, promote health and to manage their internal and external environments.

Nurses engage in therapeutic nursing interventions to manage, modify and manipulate the internal and external environmental dimensions to promote optimal health and prevent illness and disease. They have an understanding of health care systems and policies that impact the client’s environments, including information technology. The environment includes everything that impacts the client.

• Is a description of the holistic, dynamic and multidimensional optimal state of the client. 
• Comprises interacting genetic, physiological, psychological, spiritual, social and cultural dimensions.
• Is a result of the individual’s constant interaction with the environment. 
• Includes disease, which is a manifestation of these client-environment interactions. 

Nurses assist clients to restore, maintain and promote health; to prevent and treat illness and disease; and when death is imminent, to support dying with dignity.

Our faculty recognize the unique needs of the learner and understand learning:

• Is a dynamic interactive process involving communication and critical thinking that builds upon previous experiences and knowledge. 
• Occurs at different rates for individuals and implies a shared responsibility between the learner and the educator. 

Faculty foster the development of professional and technological skills, critical thinking and lifelong learning by acting as facilitator and catalyst in the learning process, and support the internalization of professional values.

• Utilize a systematic, deliberative approach in providing health care to clients in diverse settings.
• Implement professional nursing roles for practice in a variety of health care settings.
• Demonstrate beginning competence in communication, critical thinking and therapeutic nursing intervention skills as a generalist in professional nursing practice.
• Evaluate professional nursing practice based on professional, legal and ethical standards.
• Demonstrate professional development and preparation for life-long learning.
• Utilize knowledge from the arts and sciences in professional nursing practice.

• Utilize a systematic, deliberative approach in implementation of advanced nursing roles.
• Demonstrate competence in advanced communication, critical thinking, research and therapeutic nursing intervention skills in areas of role specialization.
• Integrate legal, ethical and professional guidelines as standards for nursing practice into areas of specialization.
• Develop advanced nursing roles in areas of role specialization, integrating knowledge and theory from the arts, sciences and nursing.
• Develop strategies to influence nursing, health care and health care policy.
• Demonstrate professional development and preparation for life-long learning in areas of role specialization.

• Incorporate a scientific, deliberate approach to advanced nursing practice and clinical scholarship to improve the health and health care of individuals, groups and populations, with special emphasis on rural and vulnerable populations.
• Demonstrate advanced skills in communication, critical thinking, translational research and nursing practice to address the quality of health and health care delivery to individuals, groups and populations.
• Implement the advanced practice nursing roles as practitioner, leader, innovator, clinical scholar, health care advocate and collaborator to address the current and future health and health care delivery needs at the individual, group, population and system level.
• Evaluate, synthesize and apply scientific evidence from multiple disciplines to improve and transform health care and health care outcomes.
• Develop evidence-based clinical prevention and population health approaches to influence nursing practice, health care and health policy at the system to global levels.
• Demonstrate professional development and skills for life-long learning as a nurse leader and advanced practice nurse.
• Use a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to decrease or eliminate health disparities in diverse and vulnerable populations.
• Incorporate technology into health care systems to transform practice, health care delivery and health policy.
• Demonstrate advanced practice leadership through the incorporation of ethical, cultural, social, political and economic strategies to transform health systems.