The University of Texas at Austin (UT) School of Nursing, established in Galveston in 1890 as the John Sealy Hospital Training School for Nurses, is one of the oldest schools of nursing in the Southwest. Today, the School attracts talented, smart, and ambitious students and prepares them for the clinical demands of the nursing field through strong academics and practice. The School of Nursing’s current enrollment is over 400 undergraduate students and more than 280 graduate students. The School of Nursing is home to 96 faculty members (66 full-time and 30 part-time) and 118 staff members whose dedicated, stellar work centers nursing scholarship both state-wide and nationally at UT.
The School of Nursing is a recognized leader in nursing education with several accolades and top-ranked programs:
- Ranked #1 in Best Value PhD in Nursing Programs (2020 - Value Colleges)
- Ranked nationally as tied for 15th overall and tied for 10th among public among Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs by U.S. News & World Report for Best Colleges 2022
- Ranked #10 among public schools of nursing and #19 among all schools of nursing in Best Master’s of Nursing Programs (2021 - TFE Times)
- Ranked #11 among public schools of nursing, #21 among all schools of nursing, and the top nursing school in the state in Best Nursing Schools: Master's Programs (2022 - U.S. News & World Report)
- Ranked #12 among public schools of nursing and #21 among all schools of nursing in Best Nursing Schools: DNP Programs (2022 - U.S. News & World Report)
- Ranked #25 among Schools of Nursing receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health (2020 - Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research)
The School of Nursing offers the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree programs. The School offers a BSN to PhD program as well as alternate entry programs to obtain a master’s or PhD degree. Master’s students can focus on their studies in four concentration areas: Adult Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist, Family Nurse Practitioner, Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, and Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program. Undergraduate students may take advantage of the Nursing Honors Program, and graduate students have opportunities to obtain credentials in a cross-disciplinary academic area of inquiry, e.g., gerontology, women’s and gender studies, or disability studies, while they are completing the requirements for a master's or doctor's degree in a particular discipline.
The School fosters a supportive environment for research-focused scientists and practice-focused nurse scholars. Nursing students also have access to resources, research projects, and rich, complex, and extensive training experiences that help develop them as leaders in the field. One of many resources available to the School of Nursing, the Cain Center for Nursing Research provides services to facilitate and support the conduct of research by faculty and students, including centralized support for designing projects, developing collaborations, seeking funding, preparing grant proposals, and implementing projects.
With several centers and ongoing initiatives, the research environment of the School of Nursing is rich with current investigations, most supported by NIH. The School of Nursing research faculty includes 32 members. School of Nursing faculty were awarded extramural funding totaling $4.38 million between June 2021 and May 2022. Currently, 20 School of Nursing faculty have more than $21 million (total project costs) in active research grants, primarily from the NIH including the following Institutes: NHLBI, NIDCR, NINR, NIDA, NIA, NCI, and NIDDK. Another $20 million in research proposals submitted by the School of Nursing faculty are currently under review, primarily at NIH.
Health equity and community engagement are major drivers at the School of Nursing. Research at The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing is designed to improve the health of underserved, vulnerable, and under-studied populations. This approach supports the idea that nursing research underpins graduate education and advances the science of health promotion and disease prevention. Building on a combined 20-plus years of research experience, faculty at the School of Nursing have designed innovative and culturally appropriate programs to meet the healthcare needs of the underserved in Central Texas. The School of Nursing established a deep connection with the community to improve the health of those with chronic and disabling conditions and prevent health problems in homeless adolescents, low-income pregnant women, elders, and caregivers of frail or vulnerable family members.
The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing also manages two community-based wellness centers primarily serving low-income, uninsured children and adults in Austin and Travis County: Children’s Wellness Center, a school- based health clinic providing services to predominately Hispanic, low-income, and medically underserved patients; and Family Wellness Center, a primary care facility.