PhD in Nursing

The Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing offers a Doctor of Philosophy with Major in Nursing (PhD) degree program. The PhD graduate is expected to expand application of nursing knowledge and theory, enhancing the practice of the profession and directly impacting the health of clients and communities. The focus of the PhD program is to prepare nurse scholars who conduct and build nursing research grounded in caring science and create innovative approaches for addressing nursing practice issues.

The over-arching and grounding framework of the PhD program is the concept of caring. Graduates of this program are educated within a caring-based philosophical framework that integrates essential values such as culturally sensitive caring. In addition to developing advanced research skills, graduates will assist in meeting the tremendous demand for qualified faculty from diverse backgrounds to teach and serve as role models for underrepresented students in colleges and universities.

The program is unique in that most core courses are offered as a Saturday/Sunday program.

Program Outcome Competencies

Graduates of the Doctoral Program will be able to:

• Design and conduct research relevant to nursing practice grounded in caring that informs knowledge development and guides nursing practice
• Construct the foundation for a research program intended to promote well-being for a particular population within the context of lifespan development
• Design research that reflects valuing for human dignity, respecting the environment, and understanding of complex local, national, and global policies that affect the lives of populations of interest

Please refer to the College of Nursing website for the most current plans of study for each program and track. All students will be required to complete nine credit hours of cognates. Six of these nine credits must be taken outside the discipline of Nursing and be directly related to dissertation research. Specific program information can be found under the CURRENT STUDENTS tab under the heading “Academic Programs”.