Department of Adult Health and Gerontological Nursing
Chairperson: Elizabeth A. Carlson, PhD, RN
The Department of Adult Health and Gerontological Nursing strives to provide a strong scientific framework that supports the personal and professional development of our students and faculty. Our faculty and graduates are leaders with clinical and research expertise — leaders who are needed to improve the health care of increasingly diverse populations both locally and nationally.
The faculty in the Department of Adult Health and Gerontological Nursing includes highly qualified clinicians and researchers from a variety of disciplines, including nursing, medicine and the basic sciences, and subspecialties with expertise in adult acute, critical and primary care. Faculty are renowned for their clinical expertise, and share their knowledge as published authors and frequent speakers at professional meetings at the local, regional, national and international levels. Many faculty members are also participants and leaders in professional organizations.
Our faculty are actively involved in clinical research projects and have grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research, as well as a variety of other local, state and federal research-related groups and foundations. Some current areas of funded faculty research include the following:
- Quality of life outcomes in patients who have received heart transplants
- African-American women's response to physical activity
- Intervention for cardiac risk reduction
- The study of adverse events of hospitalization for older adults, most notably hospital-acquired delirium
Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health Nursing
The mission of this department is to meet the holistic health needs of a diverse society through high quality programs and leadership in nursing education, research and practice.
One of our department goals is to explore innovative ways to engage students for advising, mentoring and recruitment into graduate and post-graduate nursing programs. We are proud to offer the first all-online graduate program developed by the college: psychiatric-mental health nursing, with an innovative online supervision component. The Advanced Public Health Nursing graduate program is also online.
Our community health nursing programs include family nurse practitioner (FNP) and advanced public health nursing. Graduates from any of our programs can sit for certification and licensure.
Research and practice are the foundation of our faculty scholarship. Faculty have grants from the National Institutes of Health as principal investigators and co-investigators for several studies, including the following:
- Chronic grief intervention for Alzheimer's caregivers
- Expert nursing interventions for decreasing aggression among psychiatric in-patients
- Understanding predictors of re-hospitalization in depressed patients
- School- and community-based intervention for improving mental health in Mexican-American immigrant families
In addition, we have contracts with numerous community health agencies, where our practice faculty deliver comprehensive health care to underserved populations. Our faculty are nationally recognized leaders in their specialty organizations. Our combined research and practice strength serves as a base for our educational efforts across all levels of the curriculum.
Department of Women, Children and Family Nursing
Chairperson: Wrenetha A. Julion, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
Our department objective is to develop and evaluate nursing science, and educate future nursing professionals using evidenced-based curriculum of the health care of women, children and their families. In this pursuit, we offer an outstanding advanced practice education program, including three practitioner options: pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP), neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) and acute care pediatric nurse practitioner (AC PNP). There are also two clinical specialist options: pediatric clinical nurse specialist (P-CNS) and neonatal clinical nurse specialist (N-CNS).
Our pediatric programs are ranked No. 5 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The NN, AC PNP and CNS options are available as online offerings with regional-based clinical experience as possible, and include periodic campus visits to enhance faculty-student mentoring. This educational approach offers accessibility to students throughout the country.
All graduates from our advanced practice programs are eligible for recertification as nurse practitioners or clinical nurse specialists.