16 reasons to choose UNMC for your DNP degree:
1. Top-tier graduate nursing program
The UNMC College of Nursing is consistently ranked in the top 8% of U.S. graduate programs by U.S. News & World Report.
2. Your mentors: distinguished faculty who lead their fields
Our faculty includes nationally recognized teachers, researchers and practitioners with a prodigious record of scholarly publication and education/research/practice grants.
Many are well-known authorities often cited for advancing their fields — especially in health promotion, health systems, care quality, symptom management and cardiac, cancer, wound, pressure ulcer, palliative and end-of-life care. The College is known for innovative, multi-discipline, holistic programs for rural and underserved populations via distance technologies and collaborations with local health professionals at community clinics.
3. A world-class medical center with top-notch clinical facilities
UNMC and our hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, form a world-class health sciences magnet. We are an international destination for top educators, researchers, practitioners and students — as well as for patients seeking advanced, life-saving care. We're widely known for advanced care quality, innovation and leading-edge modernity in multiple specialties. Many of our resources have been noted as national models. Five examples:
- The Lied Transplant Center
- The Durham Research Center
- The Hixson-Lied Center for Clinical Excellence
- The Sorrell Center for Health Science Education
- The Center for Nursing Science
4. A hundred+ clinical/community practice sites statewide
UNMC offers nurse-managed health centers, including a Mobile Nursing Center, plus rotating community clinic outreach sites. Each of our five nursing campuses, spanning Nebraska border to border, has collaborative clinical education relationships with medical centers, hospitals, outpatient clinics, physician networks, nursing homes and other health system facilities throughout its service region. In other words, there are ample opportunities for nursing practice over a wide range of settings and types of care.
5. High-level practice support — The Morehead Center for Nursing Practice
The Morehead Center for Nursing Practice brings all nursing faculty practice into an integrated system with full support services for administration, coordination and business management, including contractual arrangements and clinical privileges. It develops and structures new/future practices with one constant goal: innovative leadership in nursing practice models. These initiatives support nursing education across the health care continuum, increasing diversity of experience in clinical settings that radiate throughout communities.
6. Top-tier federal funding — including practice/service/outreach grants
Among major U.S. nursing schools, we are consistently ranked in the top tier of grant funding by the National Institutes of Health and health-advocacy groups such as The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This funding includes not only research but also educational and practice/service/outreach programs. What does this mean to you as a DNP student? The UNMC College of Nursing has top-caliber faculty who directly influence tomorrow's nursing education, practice, policy, systems and patient outcomes through leading-edge science, evidence-based practice and publication. It also means opportunities to work with senior faculty as part of the practice team on innovative care-delivery programs that reach out to underserved populations and communities.
7. Progression flexibility — full or part-time plans of study
On a full-time basis, you can finish your post-master's DNP degree in one year. Or take two years or more on a post-masters part-time plan of study. Three and four year plans of study are available for the BSN to DNP.
8. Online study flexibility — advanced distance education
An internet connection opens your powerful and convenient DNP learning gateway. Plan your study around your work and family schedule. Read more.
9. Satisfy DNP clinical requirements locally — near you
If you're a distance student, you may fulfill clinical requirements in your community or one nearby, at local health facilities with local preceptors. We'll guide you in arranging sites, schedules and preceptors.
10. Personal attention — excellent student-faculty ratio
- In general — across both undergraduate and graduate programs — the College has about one nursing faculty member for every ten students.
- That means close academic guidance, frequent student-teacher interaction and ready access to professional mentoring.
11. Full orientation starts you on a successful path
Upon admission, you'll meet your teachers and plan a course of study that fits your goals and schedule. You'll also become familiar with the College's educational resources, distance technologies, web applications — including the Canvas Learning System™ — and with UNMC support systems, including intranet, email, library, student services, IT support and more.
12. Five nursing campuses serve Nebraska border to border
The College of Nursing is the largest and most far-flung of UNMC's health colleges, with over 1,000 students at five campuses spanning the state. We have divisions in Omaha, Lincoln, Norfolk, Kearney and Scottsbluff — and each has:
- extensive clinical relationships with all types of care facilities/providers within its service region.
- innovative collaborations with local universities, community colleges and health networks to advance nursing education
- active partnerships with local civic, business, government, educational and health leaders to solve local nursing needs, including nurse and nursing faculty shortages.
- proactive outreach practice/service programs geared to local needs and populations.
13. Diverse enrollment
The College attracts students from across the state, nation and globe, reflecting all colors and cultures — men and women. With advanced web-based options, our graduate programs draw a wide student mix, culturally and geographically.
14. Visionary, progressive, student-centered curriculum
The UNMC College of Nursing has fully recalibrated its entire curriculum to reflect the fast-changing demands of modern nursing.
New learning approaches and distance-delivery provisions incorporate recommendations by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, The Institute of Medicine, the Carnegie Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — all leading advocates of progressive, evidenced-based health care education.
The result: A comprehensive curriculum centered on student learning, patient outcomes and best-practices care propelled by advanced nursing systems. Curriculum enhancement will continue full speed as part of the College's commitment to continuous quality improvement.
15. An evidence-based, interdisciplinary, holistic approach
The focus here is on dynamic learning, critical thinking, independent clinical judgment, interprofessional training, evidence-based treatment and the 360-degree patient. Our DNP program equips you to translate nursing research into forward-thinking, best-practices clinical application. Tomorrow's advanced practice clinicians must be nimble leaders — ready for change, quick to adapt, fast to respond. They must be sentinels of care quality and patient safety, ever alert to prevent, spot and remedy errors within their patients' entire health care delivery. Your DNP degree will uniquely qualify you to lead nursing practice into the next generation.
16. Graduate Assistantships
Graduate Assistantships may be available for incoming full-time PhD and DNP students. These assistantships may be focused upon research and/or teaching based upon individual student abilities/interests as well as CON needs. In return for working a minimum of 15 hours per week, tuition will be covered, and a monthly stipend paid to students. Please discuss your interests with your academic advisor or program director.
If all that sounds like the DNP nurse you want to be, welcome to UNMC.