PhD Overview

Fall 2025 Application Period Open Until March 15. The values of the PhD program are rooted in the Florida Atlantic University College of Nursing philosophy, mission, and vision in which health and well-being are transformed locally, nationally, and globally through nursing grounded in caring. The over-arching and grounding framework of the PhD program is the science of caring.

Faculty members engage with PhD students to create a learning environment that is accessible as well as supportive. We see you as our colleagues, and we strive to support your development as emerging nurse scholars and future leaders. At the same time, you challenge us to consider our ideas, shaping our ongoing growth as more senior scholars in the discipline of Nursing. As a graduate of this PhD program, you will be an expert in the Caring science that underpins our discipline; you will carry the thread of Caring science into your own research; and, you will have command of foundational research knowledge with experience essential for beginning on your path as an accomplished nurse scientist. We look forward to working with you.

If you are interested in our PhD Program, please know that you can be a full or part-time student, that there is financial support for full time students, our core courses are most often on weekends (once a month during each semester with cyberspace interaction between face-to-face classes) and we are here to help you. The Office for Nursing Research, Scholarship, and PhD studies is located in Suite 215 at the College of Nursing. Please stop by to see us!

Caring Science: in the discipline of nursing, is the body of knowledge, arrived at through intentional research and theory development, focused on the relationship of caring to health, healing and well-being of the whole person within the context of the family, community, society and within the global environment. 

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Our research Focus Areas are:

• Healthy Aging Across the Lifespan - Optimizing health across the lifespan, from conception to end of life.
• Health Equity - Clarifying and eliminating health disparities associated with human uniqueness, such as ethnicity, race, socioeconomics, gender and age.
• Holistic Health - Exploring and testing integrative approaches to health promotion and healing.
• Transforming Healthcare Environments – Focuses on caring and healing environments, interprofessional collaboration and teamwork, nurse leader development, and best nursing practices effecting patient outcomes.  

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Visit the College of Nursing Research homepage for additional information.

Meet our PhD Students

Dissertation Topics of Recent Graduates

Keys to Success in the PhD program

Information & Advising for the PhD in Nursing Program

Part-time students who were admitted prior to Fall 2020 should make an appointment with PhD Advisor Gerardo Guzman to review their plan of study during the fall, 2020 semester.

PhD Advisor	Director, PhD in Nursing Program
Gerardo Guzman	Howard K. Butcher, PhD, RN
777 Glades Rd. Boca Raton, FL  33431	777 Glades Rd Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-297-2757	Phone: 561-297-2659
Email: gguzman3@health.fau.edu	Email: hbutcher@health.fau.edu