About the College of Nursing

Our national reputation for clinical excellence helps make our graduates highly sought after by top health care employers around the country.

Whether you graduate as a new nurse or are advancing your current practice with a doctorate, a degree from Rush prepares you to be a leader in the nursing profession.

Our mission

Educate a broadly diverse student body who will deliver exceptional health care, generate innovative knowledge, and provide transformative leadership to improve health outcomes for all populations.

Our vision

Lead healthcare transformation through innovative nursing education, practice, research, and scholarly inquiry.

Our Guiding Principles

1. We strive to be an antiracist and multicultural institution. We aspire to achieve equity and social justice for all members of the College and for those we serve.
2. We value all members of the College and expect them to demonstrate integrity, transparency, moral courage, and respect for others.
3. We value teamwork and we value the importance of cultivating a richly diverse faculty, student body, and staff who contribute their expertise and talents to the collective excellence of the College.
4. We value ongoing professional development informed by self-reflection and believe in learning through one’s personal journey, adapting to change, seeking opportunities for growth, and learning from successes as well as challenges while prioritizing work-life balance.
5. We value success through continual professional growth by fostering collaborative successes that will lead to local, national, and international recognition for the College and its individual members.
6. We value the legacy of the Rush tradition of nursing that uniquely integrates practice, education, scholarship, research, and service. We are committed to outcome-oriented and evidence-based education.
7. We strive to continuously demonstrate excellence in clinical practice, research, education, scholarship, leadership, advocacy, and academic-practice partnerships.
8. We are dedicated to innovation that emphasizes collaborative partnerships with all College stakeholders to generate creative solutions to the issues impacting our world, including health disparities.
9. The College is built on respect for all and values all voices through shared governance. Our collaboration is based on accountability, mentorship, responsiveness to the needs of the communities we serve, and a climate that aspires toward unity and a just culture.

Our history

The College of Nursing’s heritage dates back to 1885, when our first antecedent, the St. Luke’s Hospital Training School of Nursing, opened to offer diploma education to nurses. In 1903, the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing accepted its first students. From 1956 to 1968, nurses were taught at the merged Presbyterian-St. Luke’s School of Nursing. Before the establishment of the College of Nursing in 1972, more than 7,000 nurses had graduated from these schools.

Legacy of Luther Christman

The first College of Nursing dean was Luther Christman, PhD, RN, FAAN. Christman rose to great prominence in American nursing as both a forward-thinking and controversial figure. The son of a coal miner, Christman became vice president of nursing affairs and the dean of the College of Nursing at Rush University in 1972.

Christman’s educational background in psychology served him well as an administrator. He became the first male to hold the joint appointments of dean of nursing and hospital director of nursing. Christman developed the Rush Model of Nursing, which gained him an international reputation as a nursing leader. As an educational maverick, Christman advocated in the 1980s for entry-level nurses to have doctoral degrees.

Christman had many other career highlights, including the following:

• Dean, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
• Founder, American Association for Men in Nursing (the American Assembly for Men in Nursing)
• Founder, National Student Nurses Association
• Fellow and Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing

Christman passed away on June 7, 2011, leaving a legacy that still lives on at Rush and the entire nursing community. Rush College of Nursing is extremely proud to have Christman represent the important contribution of men in the nursing profession.

The College of Nursing today

Today, well over 7,000 baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral students have graduated from Rush University College of Nursing. The first bachelor’s and master’s degrees were awarded in 1975, the first doctor of nursing science degree was awarded in 1980 and the first practice doctorate was awarded in 1990.

Current nursing programs are offered from the master’s through the doctoral (DNP and PhD) levels. The last baccalaureate class graduated in June 2009. The generalist entry master’s (GEM) is the prelicensure program for entry into RN practice. Students are automatically members of the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Nurses Alumni Association upon graduation.

College of Nursing Academic Programs

All of our nursing programs are offered at the graduate level awarding MSN, DNP, and PhD degrees. Browse our programs below, find out how to apply, or view student-at-large information.

Find information about financial aid, grants, and scholarships for College of Nursing students.

The College of Nursing uses a holistic admissions process. Read our Diversity Statement for more information.

Nursing, Master’s Entry in Nursing for Non-Nurses

• MSN (CNL)

Nursing Science

• PhD

Nursing, Adult-Gero Acute Care

• Certificate
• DNP (CNS)
• DNP (NP)

Nursing, Adult-Gero Primary Care

• DNP (NP)

Nursing, Anesthesia

• DNP

Nursing, Family

• DNP (NP)

Nursing, Leadership: Clinical Nurse Leader for RNs

• MSN (CNL)

Nursing, Neonatal

• Certificate
• DNP (CNS)
• DNP (NP)

Nursing, Pediatric Acute Care

• Certificate
• DNP (NP)

Nursing, Primary Care Pediatric

• DNP (CNS)
• DNP (NP)

Nursing, Psychiatric-Mental Health

• DNP (NP)

Nursing, Public Health

• DNP

Nursing, Transformative Leadership: Population Health

• DNP

Nursing, Transformative Leadership: Systems

• DNP

College of Nursing Rankings

Rush University College of Nursing received top rankings in the 2022 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools” survey.

Among the nation’s 600 nursing colleges with graduate programs, Rush is ranked No. 1 overall for Doctor of Nursing Practice programs and No. 13 for Master of Science in Nursing programs.

Four of our programs are ranked No. 1 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Graduate Nursing Programs:

• Doctor of Nursing Practice
• Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing 
• Pediatric Acute Care DNP
• Pediatric Primary Care DNP

The following programs are also ranked highly in the top five:

• Nursing Administration (No. 2)
• Adult/Gerontology Nurse Practitioner — Primary Care (No. 2) 
• Family Nurse Practitioner (No. 3)
• Adult/Gerontology Nurse Practitioner — Acute Care (No. 4)

Additionally, four of our programs rank among the top three in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Online Programs:

• Graduate Nursing Programs: No. 1
• Nurse Practitioner — Psychiatric Mental, Across the Lifespan: No. 1
• Nurse Practitioner — Family: No. 2
• Nursing Administration/Leadership: No. 4

“U.S. News’ rankings reflect our high standards, and are a tribute to our excellent faculty, staff and students,” says Christine M. Kennedy, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the College of Nursing. “We are so proud of everyone involved and are committed to finding even more ways to innovate and excel. Achieving these impressive rankings during the stress of the COVID-19 year is even more gratifying.”

Rush University is a top-ranked health science university. It is the academic component of Rush University Medical Center, a leading academic medical center. Rush University is known for its high-quality health care education, supportive learning environment, engagement with the urban community and forward-looking education approach.