NLN Announces New Centers of Excellence (COE) in Nursing Education

Washington, DC - July 20, 2015 - Twelve schools of nursing, representing programs across the academic spectrum of higher education, have been chosen NLN Centers of Excellence™, the National League for Nursing has announced. These schools will be formally recognized at the NLN’s 2015 Education Summit in Las Vegas, part of a special presentation during the NLN Banquet, on Friday evening, October 2. The four-day Summit draws a capacity crowd of nurse faculty, deans, and administrators, and professionals from allied health organizations. The COE presentation precedes the induction of new fellows into the NLN’s Academy of Nursing Education.

"I look forward to acknowledging the 2015 COE designees in Las Vegas, celebrating their contributions to excellence in nursing education and the key role that faculty, deans, and health care professionals play in achieving this coveted status,” said NLN president Marsha Howell Adams, PhD, RN, CNE, FAAN, ANEF, who is professor and dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Added CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN: “Their visionary leadership and dedication to creating environments of inclusive excellence nurture the creation of a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the health of the nation and the global community.”

Remarkably, all but one of the newly named 2015 Centers of Excellence earned recognition in the category, Creating Environments that Enhance Student Learning and Professional Development. Four received their third continuing designation in this category: Duquesne University, East Carolina University, Regis College, and Trinitas School of Nursing; a fifth school, Collin College, earned its second designation. Duke University, the College of New Jersey, Thomas Jefferson University, Union County College, the University of Texas at Arlington, and Western Governors University were first-time designees for Creating Environments that Enhance Student Learning and Professional Development. Union County College, which offers a practical nursing program exclusively, is the first school of its kind to earn COE status.

With this latest award cycle, Duke University has the further distinction of holding simultaneous COE status in two categories; it is currently also a Center of Excellence for Creating Environments that Promote Pedagogical Expertise of Faculty. Louisiana State University is this year’s sole winner for Creating Environments that Promote Pedagogical Expertise of Faculty.

The NLN looks to its COEs to serve as exemplars of the NLN’s core values: excellence, integrity, diversity, and caring. COE faculty bear a responsibility to share their experience, knowledge, and wisdom for the benefit of everyone in nursing education. They are expected to provide guidance and be available as sounding boards to other nursing programs that aim to achieve COE status.

Finally, each year, students enrolled in COE schools have an opportunity to express their thoughts on the meaning of excellence in nursing education, what fosters excellence, and what it means to them to be part of a COE-designated nursing program. As in years past, the winner of the Student Excellence Paper Competition will be acknowledged at the COE presentation and published in the fall issue of the NLN Report. She is Dolly Vo from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

Each year since 2004, the NLN has invited nursing schools to apply for COE status, based on their ability to demonstrate in concrete, measurable terms sustained excellence in faculty development, nursing education research, or student learning and professional development. Schools, and since 2012, health care organizations within the category Creating Workplace Environments that Promote Academic Progression of Nurses, must also have a proven commitment to continuous quality improvement.

More information about the COE program

Education Summit information and registration

About the NLN
Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers professional development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 40,000 individual and 1,200 institutional members. NLN members represent nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education, and health care organizations and agencies.