About the School

Statement of Philosophy

The School of Nursing’s Statement of Philosophy describes the faculty’s beliefs about nursing as a discipline. The term discipline depicts nursing’s foundational worldview, values, ethics, traditions, theories, and principles, serving as an internal locus that guides education, research, and practice. The faculty believe nursing is grounded in human caring science, which focuses on caring, being whole, and being healed in specific contexts and relationships. The faculty include the following concepts in their Statement of Philosophy: caring, communication, environment, healing, health, health beliefs, humans, nursing, shared decision-making, social-cultural world, teaching learning process, and trans-professional collaboration.

Values

The School of Nursing’s Mission and Vision inform our values for education, research, and practice.

Professional development through advancement of competencies required for the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, and facilitation of healing using the nursing process (ANA, 2015, p.1).
Responsible citizenship and equitable allocation of environmental and global resources based on understanding that social, economic, and political factors shape and modify the environment and influence the health of society.
Application of critical thinking to develop, implement, and evaluate nursing care, quality improvement initiatives, and health care policy to efficiently deliver cost effective, high quality, safe, health care services based upon integration of evidence and identified needs.
Conducting an inventory of personal values and beliefs as part of a life-long learning process focused on demonstrating respect for all persons and increasing appreciation of the implications of diversity, cultural preferences, social justice, and decision-making processes.
Teaching and learning as a process based on a professional relationship, empathy, respect, and shared knowledge.
Integration of a liberal arts education and nursing science curriculum as the foundation for best practices.
Communication that facilitates trans-professional collaboration and shared decision making.
Ethical, professional, and legal accountability in all interactions.

Areas of Study

School of Nursing programs include: