School of Nursing
Summary Description
As a vital part of a world-renowned health sciences campus, the UCSF School of Nursing fosters excellence, diversity and innovation in everything we do. Our rich history and dynamic present give ample proof of the global health care leadership we continue to provide. Our faculty members serve in advisory and leadership capacities in policy, health care delivery, and clinical and translational research.
Separated by only a courtyard, School of Nursing faculty and students work closely with campus partners on joint research, patient care and education initiatives. Our students come from around the world. While here they combine their varied perspectives and fresh ideas with attentive mentoring and rigorous coursework to prepare for desperately needed leadership roles in patient care, research, health policy and academia. Our graduate specialties consistently rank among the best in U.S. News & World Report assessments of professional graduate programs.
History
It was over a century ago – 1907 – that the University of California first established a diploma program at the hospital training school for nurses in San Francisco. Ever since, the School of Nursing has been an exemplar of excellence and innovation.
We offered our first baccalaureate program on the Berkeley campus in 1917 and our first graduate program for public health nursing in 1918. In 1939 the Regents established the first autonomous School of Nursing in any state university.
By mid-century, we established a number of master’s programs and, in 1965, our first doctoral programs.
In 1991, we created our Master’s Entry Program in Nursing, a three-year program during which we prepare promising students without prior nursing education for both RN licensure and a master’s degree.
The graduates of these programs – and the faculty who have trained them – have consistently been among the nation’s leaders in clinical care, policy development, nursing research, and academia. Through a century in which nursing and health care always seemed to be in the midst of dramatic change – with our vision firmly fixed on the patients and families we serve – what became the UCSF School of Nursing in 1959 has remained, proudly, at the forefront of our profession.
Accreditation Information
The Doctor of Nursing Practice program and the Master of Science degree program with a focus in nursing, both at UCSF, are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
The Nurse-Midwifery/WHNP specialty at UCSF is fully accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME), 8403 Colesville Road, Suite 1550, Silver Spring, MD 20910-6374. For information about accreditation, please contact ACME directly by calling 240-485-1802 or by email at acme@acnm.org.
The UCSF School of Nursing graduate programs meet requirements set by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN):
- The Nurse Practitioner specialties conform to the Board’s “Standards of Education for Nurse Practitioner Programs” (California Code of Regulations Section 1484) and have been approved by the BRN.
- The Clinical Nurse Specialist specialties conform to the Board’s requirements for Clinical Nurse Specialist Certification but are not formally approved by the BRN.
- The Certified Nurse-Midwifery specialty conforms to the Board’s “Standards for Nurse-Midwifery Programs” (California Code of Regulations Section 1462) and has been approved by the BRN.
Policies
The UCSF School of Nursing programs operate within the UCSF Graduate Division. Please see the Graduate Division page.