PhD in Education?

happyheatherp · May 30, 2010

I am fairly young as well for nursing education (in my early 30's), but I have my BSN and applied for the MSN Nurse Educator program at OU, awaiting my acceptance letter. I teach at an LPN/RN 1 + 1 program, and my director is a PhD, RN, CNE. I do believe this is the path to take. I look forward to following in her footsteps. You are really young for your position, and I see how that could hinder you in the near future. Hang in there, and good luck with your PhD. OU has excellent programs for advanced practice as a Nurse Educator. Best of luck!!

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · May 30, 2010

Getting the experience is the easy part: you have a job in education already, your foot is in the door. Don't be in such a hurry to climb up the ladder; it's not all it's cracked up to be. Nor may it be what you think you want to do. I transitioned into a leadership-type of position this year, and am stepping down. I miss teaching, and could not stand the bull$#@& that went with it. I too, am considered 'young' (not as young as you), and trust me, I had to prove myself big time.

The reality is, you'll be working for 40+ more years. You have plenty of time to work your way up to the top. In the meantime, learn as much as you can by teaching, shadowing your mentors and leaders, and get the doctorate degree you are going to need.

BTW, you never mentioned what type of Doctorate you are considering (which is the reason I opened your thread in the first place:)).

UVA Grad Nursing · May 30, 2010

HottyToddy:

Congrats on your aspirations. I've been in higher education administration, and I love it. I've taught too, but I am one of those better 'wired' for administration. Fortunately, the field of education is vast and wide and allows all people to be directed towards their love. In my own case, by focusing on administration (and serving on 1-2 dozen committees per year), this allows people like Nurse Educate to focus more on the critical classroom arena.

If you are thinking Dean/Provost level as an eventual goal, then I would encourage you to consider a PhD in Nursing that focuses on expanding nursing knowledge in ways that affect the patient experience. You might want to consider becoming an funded researcher/professor along the way. In research, one of the guiding principles is research $$ (studies cost money, and you will want to seek others to pay for the study). The NIH (and the National Institute for Nursing Research, National Institute for Mental Health, etc) fund projects that relate to patient care issues and expanding scientific knowledge. The NIH does not fund research projects that relate to education (that would be the realm of the Department of Education). NIH research support are the 'gold standard' in nursing science -- similar to funding from the National Science Foundation in the biological and physical sciences.

Most nursing deans are formerly tenured faculty. Many are also fellows in the American Academy of Nurses (you'll see that FAAN after their titles). So I would encourage you to also look at the steps needed to become a tenured faculty member as a step in towards your goal to be a dean, provost or president.

rn'ti4uva · May 31, 2010

HottyToddy:
Most nursing deans are formerly tenured faculty. Many are also fellows in the American Academy of Nurses (you'll see that FAAN after their titles). So I would encourage you to also look at the steps needed to become a tenured faculty member as a step in towards your goal to be a dean, provost or president.

While I can't speak from experience for Nursing Ph.D. programs or tenure processes, I can tell you about my husband's experience in basic sciences. He took just under 7 years to complete his Ph.D., which was not that far off the average. That included 2 years of classes, year 1 laboratory research rotations, and years 2 - 7 thesis research. He did not do a post-doctoral position - and with the demand for nursing faculty, you probably would not have to either. He had a mid-tenure review 3 years after joining the faculty. He went up for (and got!) tenure this year - his 6th. He is also being promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor, which is typically granted with tenure.

His next step is to go up again for promotion to full professor. There is no set time table, but it seems to be done 3 - 6 years after tenure is granted. Depending on departmental needs and staffing, you may need to be a full professor before you can be considered for Department chair or Dean/Provost.

One other heads up, as you are probably aware, research doesn't usually confine itself to a defined timeline. Again, I can't say how this will translate for Nursing. In the basic sciences, there will be times when experiments don't work or you were expecting one result with a series of follow-up experiments planned only to find that you need to pursue a different direction.

Hope this helps as you make your way along! Good luck!