UNLV School of Nursing

School of Nursing Strategic Planning

I. Mission Statement

The mission of the School of Nursing is to improve human health through generating scientifically based innovations in education, research, and practice. The School of Nursing exists primarily to educate nurses at the undergraduate and graduate levels to meet the health care needs of Nevada.

II. Vision Statement: Shaping the Future of Nursing Education, Research, and Practice

The overarching goal of the School of Nursing is to help shape the future of nursing education, research, and practice. To that end, the faculty have accepted “ Shaping the future of nursing today” as the school’s motto.

At the end of five years, the School of Nursing will have increased undergraduate and graduate enrollment and become known for quality education; these programs will use innovative technologies to prepare students to provide quality health care. The school will also increase research funding and involve more students at every educational level in the research process. The school will exhibit leadership in clinical practice and professional organizations to become well known in the university, state and the nation. Finally, the school will increase its economic base and endowments. This vision is in direct alignment with that of UNLV and NSHE.

III. Benchmark Status

The following peer institutions were selected to compare educational programs and research funding: Florida International University, Georgia State University, University of Louisville, Indiana University-Purdue University, George Mason University, and University of Central Florida. The University of Houston-University Park was not included because it does not offer nursing education. Of these, six offer BS and MS degrees and four offer doctoral degrees in nursing. Three of the schools received no NIH funding in 2004; while the others received NIH funding ranging from $127K to $856K. In comparison to nursing schools offering a PhD program, UNLV SON falls among the half of institutions that do not have any NIH funding.

Research applications and funding in School of Nursing have involved primarily internal grant funds. With the hiring of an Assistant Dean for Research and recent success in recruiting faculty, we anticipate that the number of research proposals submitted and awards funded will increase over the next few years. With the hiring of an Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, we also plan to submit more training grants in support of our educational programs.

	Proposals (n)	Value of proposals	Awards (n)	Value of awards
FY 2002	5	$89,585	4	$19,391
FY 2003	2	$10,116	1	$10,116
FY 2004	7	$1,328,091	4	$371,959
FY 2005	12	$1,963,487	9	$170,265
FY 2006	4	$1,726,163	1	$25,686

We have begun to track our presentations and publications. These are shown in the following figures and show progress in these areas.

Our academic profile is depicted in the following table; we have been growing very consistently. However, the number of our pre-nursing students has decreased. We believe we need to focus on student recruitment at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to ensure enrollment of highly qualified students.

Program	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003	Fall 2004	Fall 2005	Fall 2006 1
Undergraduate
Pre-Nursing	362	443	558	718	731	600
Nursing	163	162	160	136	206	200
Graduate
MS	26	20	35	42	43	110
MS – St Jude 2						48
Post-MS Cert					3
PhD				2	5	20
TOTAL	551	624	753	898	988	980

1 Figures are estimated

2 Private program – does not count in state FTEs

Finally we have increased and filled all of our faculty positions. Of 38 faculty members, 21 (55%) are doctorally-prepared; of these about half are actively pursuing external research funding.

IV. School of Nursing Goals

Part 1 Narrative

The entire faculty of the School of Nursing attended a team building and strategic planning retreat on Sept 7-8, 2006. During this time goals were presented and revised. Faculty then divided into small groups to develop strategies, actions, and champions to meet these goals. These spreadsheets were then presented to the entire group for discussion. They were then revised by the Dean and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs. The SON Executive Council then reviewed and revised the plan. Finally the revised plan was shared with the faculty at its October 2 meeting. Following this, the Dean revised the plan once more.

The following goals were accepted by the faculty.

GOAL #1: Expand undergraduate and graduate programs while assuring high quality student-centered educational programs.

GOAL #2: Increase nursing research to advance the science of nursing and to support UNLV's movement toward research-extensive status.

GOAL #3: Insure culturally-competent evidence-based nursing (EBP) practice.

GOAL #4: Develop partnerships to improve community health outcomes through teaching, research, and service activities.

GOAL #5: Increase community presence and enhance the financial resources of the SON

Goal #1 requires the successful recruitment and retention of faculty via award/reward mechanisms, opportunities for faculty development, and a system that allows for promotion of non-tenure-track faculty. Goals are consistent with UNLV goals # 1 and #4 in addressing the nursing shortage in Nevada. Because the expansion in our graduate programs is occurring primarily through web-based instruction, technical support is needed to facilitate placing course content on line. This provision of information technology support is consistent with UNLV Goal #8.

The second major goal is to build and support research within the School of Nursing. An Assistant Dean for Research has been hired and research support infrastructure will be developed in the form of a Center for Nursing Research. Such a center would support faculty in their research by providing mentoring, scientific reviews prior to grant submission, assistance with research design and methods, data entry, statistical analysis, poster and slide presentation, and editorial support. Some of the required resources are marginally in place, but more doctorally prepared faculty with active research programs are needed. This goal is in direct alignment with UNLV Goals #2 and #3 focusing on becoming a research extensive university and fits into Macrothemes VII (School Improvement, Assessment of Learning, and Educational Research) and VIII (Biomedical and Health Sciences / Biotechnology)..

The third goal focuses on Practice and is intrinsic to nursing being a practice profession. It again is in direct alignment with UNLV’s strategic plan. The fourth goal focuses on developing community partnerships to increase the visibility of the School of Nursing within UNLV, the state, and the nation. This goal is consistent with UNLV Goals #3 and #7. Finally, the fifth goal deals with community development and fund raising, again consistent with UNLV’s plans and the ongoing capital campaign.