U.S. News Ranks SIUE School of Nursing Among Top Graduate Schools
The SIUE School of Nursing is ranked among the top nursing schools in U.S. News & World Reports 2016 edition of Best Graduate Schools. It is the first time that SIUE’s growing School of Nursing (SON) has broken into this particular rating.
“It is an honor to be included among the top 25 percent of nursing graduate schools, and the credit goes to our extremely dedicated leadership and faculty,” said Dr. Laura Bernaix, interim dean of the SIUE School of Nursing. “As the School continues to mature and expand, we fully expect that our students’ educational experience will continuously improve, our research efforts will heighten and the School’s positive impact in our community and throughout the region will be dramatic.”
During the past 10 years (2005-2014), the overall number of fall admissions to SIUE SON graduate programs has increased by more than 30 percent. Also during that same time frame, the number of students who have graduated from SON graduate programs has doubled.
Programs at the 503 nursing schools with master’s or doctoral programs accredited by either the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing were surveyed. SIUE is listed No. 122.
Nursing school deans and deans of graduate studies at nursing schools were asked to rate the quality of master’s programs from marginal to outstanding. These indicators included:
Student selectivity and achievement: The strength of nursing students entering master’s programs in fall 2014 was measured by their mean undergraduate grade point average and the acceptance rate of master’s students in fall 2014. The number of master’s degrees awarded to the 2013 graduating class measured achievement.
Faculty resources: This score was based on the 2014 ratio of full-time master’s students to full-time faculty, the proportion of 2014 full-time faculty with doctoral degrees; the proportion of full-time faculty with membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies or who are fellows of the National Institutes of Health, fellows of the American Academy of Nursing or fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in fall 2014; the proportion of 2014 full-time faculty in active nursing practice; and the number of 2013 master’s degrees in nursing awarded per full-time faculty member in the past school year.
Research activity: For fiscal year 2014, based on total National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal research grants to the nursing school; average NIH and other federal research grants per full-time nursing faculty member; total NIH and other federal educational and practical initiative grants to the nursing school; and average NIH and other federal educational and practical initiative grants per full-time nursing faculty member.
Photo: Dr. Laura Bernaix, interim dean of the SIUE School of Nursing.
