The U.S. News and World Report rates Clarion and Edinboro’s online Master of Nursing
faculty at No. 1 for faculty credentials and training.
Clarion and Edinboro's online Master of Nursing degree is its Family Nurse Practitioner program.
The maximum score for this rating is 100, which Clarion and Edinboro's professors received. The 100 percent rating was part of its criteria for ranking the MSN program at 46th in the nation.
According to the U.S. News and World Report, the credentials and training "measures how well a school prepares qualified instructors to teach remotely."
All of the professors in this program also have doctorates, which is another contributing factor in this score. The professors in this program from Clarion include Lana Smith, Ph.D., who also serves as the program coordinator, Donna Falsetti, Ph.D., Catherine Stiller, Ph.D., and Edinboro professors Meg Larson, DNP, Colleen Bessetti Barrett, DNP, and Jill Rodgers, DNP.
Both universities have collaborated to offer the program as it is today and prepare its faculty.
"The Master of Science in Nursing program has been offered jointly by Clarion and Edinboro Universities since 2001. The consortium model has allowed the universities to share faculty and resources, which is something that many of the other departments within Penn West University are experiencing for the first time," explained Deborah Kelly, DNP, Interim Dean of the College of Sciences and Health Professions for Edinboro University. "Over the years, the faculty from both universities have collaborated to develop a program that prepares advanced practice nurses to enter in to family practice. The faculty continually assess the program and make changes that are congruent with national standards. For this reason, the MSN-FNP program has consistently received national recognition."
Clarion and Edinboro universities' MSN-FNP program improves access to care in western Pennsylvania's rural and urban underserved areas by educating nurses to provide family-focused primary health care in those communities.