About the School of Nursing
Thank you for your interest in Oakland University's School of Nursing. The School of Nursing prides itself on providing a high-quality education that will provide the best clinical experiences, job opportunities in the area’s best healthcare systems and access to faculty members who are leaders within the nursing profession. The School of Nursing also provides resources that may be available to assist with tuition expenses.
On May 14, 1973, the President of Oakland University (OU) officially informed the Michigan State Board of Nursing of the intent of OU to institute a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program. The program was approved by the Faculty Senate on April 17, 1974 and the OU Board of Trustees on May 22, 1974. The School of Nursing (SON) became a bona fide academic unit within the university in the fall of 1974; Dr. Geraldene Felton was the SON’s first Dean.
Celebrating 50 Years
In September 1975, the first class of students began the sophomore year of the BSN program and graduated in 1978. After the required graduation of two classes, the BSN program applied for and received full approval by the Michigan State Board of Nursing. In December 1980, the SON was granted initial accreditation by the National League for Nursing, and received continuing accreditation in 1987 and 1995. In 2002, the SON received initial accreditation through the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and received continuing accreditation in 2012 and again in 2022 for ten years.
Welcome from Dean Christopher Lance Coleman, Ph.D., MS, MPH, FAAN, FADLN, PMHCNS-BC
Thank you for visiting the Oakland University (OU) School of Nursing (SON) website and for considering OU’s nursing programs.
OU SON continues to develop opportunities for students who wish to pursue nursing as their new career or to advance their nursing education as a practicing nurse. As Dean of the OU SON, I am truly impressed by high-quality programs the SON offers in a diverse and inclusive environment. The positive remarks I hear from the community about OU SON alumni is testimony to the quality of our programs and our graduates.
The University and School’s commitment to engage with communities as an essential part of the education process provides unique real-world learning experiences for its students. Faculty’s connectedness to the healthcare community provides opportunities for students to shape their interests as a generalist or a specialist as they pursue their degree or certification. The SON’s intent is to prepare nurse leaders at all levels of the healthcare environment to participate in the conversations centric to healthcare improvement for individuals and communities.
Whether you are interested in becoming a nurse or are already a nurse and want to advance your nursing career by earning your BSN or a graduate degree, our SON offers programs that will help you to meet your career goals. Our students have access to programs with dynamic instructors, rigorous curricula, a sophisticated learning lab, and clinical practice opportunities throughout the Detroit metro area’s top hospitals and facilities.
Our students are prepared to provide optimal care delivery within the complex and ever-changing healthcare industry as faculty delicately blend the art of science of nursing into the coursework.
The National Academy of Science’s recent publication: The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity emphasizes that the “decade ahead will test the nation’s nearly 4 million nurses in new and complex ways.” The document lays out the challenges ahead to address the vast disparities in healthcare and health outcomes for individuals in our regions and globally. We, at OU SON accept this challenge by offering contemporary curricula that address the barriers for healthy equity and embeds a constant consideration of how the conditions in the environments in which people live, impacts their health outcomes and quality of life in a positive or a negative manner. We prepare graduates to practice with a holistic approach.
I hope you consider OU for your nursing education. Our emphasis on leadership, theory, technology and practice prepares our graduates to perform in a variety of settings including hospital-based, community-based and home-based care. Our graduates’ footprints can be found at bedsides, in communities, on political platforms and in executive offices. Please join us and leave your footprints on Oakland’s campus as you begin your transformational nursing journey.
The Board of Visitors is an advisory body to the Oakland University School of Nursing. The specific purposes of the Board of Visitors are to provide counsel to the School of Nursing regarding its objectives, strategies, goals, curriculum and concerns; to promote the school in the community by creating awareness of its existence, supporting recruiting efforts and understanding of the services it renders; and to provide assistance in obtaining financial support from outside sources.
BOARD MEMBERS
Nina Abubakari MPH, MBA, JD, FACHE
Advantage Health Centers
President and CEO
Lynn Chiesa, RN, MSN, NE-BC
Ascension Michigan
Regional Chief Nursing Officer
Christopher Lance Coleman, PhD, MS, MPH, FAAN, FADLN, PMHCNS-BC
Oakland University School of Nursing
Dean and Professor
Ann Donnelly, RN, BSN, MA
Priority Health
Vice President, Care Management
Renay Gagleard, DNP, MSN, C-CNS, RNBC, CENP
Trinity Health
Executive Director of Nursing and Advanced Practice
Debbie Guido-Allen, MBA, BSN, RN, NE-BC, FACHE
Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital
President
Lisa Hahn, MS, RN
Oakland County Health Division
Chief Community Nursing Programs
Amy Hamilton, MSN, RN
Detroit Medical Center
Group Chief Nursing Officer
Laura Harmon, DNP, ACNP-BC, CCRN
McLaren Oakland Hospital
Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer
Greg Jamian
Americare Medical, Inc.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Kyle Johns
Independent Bank
First Vice President
Jackie Long, RN, MSN
Former OU Trustee
School of Nursing Alumna, 1981
Charlene Shaya, ESQ
J & B Medical
Chief Operating Officer
Anne Stewart, MBA, BSN, RN, NE-BC
Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital
Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
Eric Wallis, DNP, MSA, RN, NE-BC, FACHE
Henry Ford Health
Senior Vice President Patient Care & System Chief Nursing Officer
School of Nursing Mission
The School of Nursing prepares innovative, caring, and competent nurse leaders committed to the health and well-being of individuals and communities through education, practice, and scholarship.
The School of Nursing inspires nurses to have a sustained positive impact on the health of a diverse society through community partnerships and excellence in education.
School of Nursing Admission Mission Statement
The Oakland University School of Nursing seeks caring individuals who strive to meet the needs of a globally inclusive community and who will use their education to influence healthcare through practice, leadership, and scholarship.
School of Nursing Philosophy
The School of Nursing's philosophy of nursing education is informed by insights into the empirical, aesthetic, ethical, and personal ways of knowing that undergird nursing as a practice discipline, the position that nursing holds in society, and the relationship that exists between the SON and OU. Nursing’s disciplinary domain has both a scientific and professional practice component. Nursing science discovers, develops, synthesizes, validates, and brings order to the theoretical and practical knowledge that informs the professional practice of nursing. Professional nursing care of individuals, families, and communities is a social mandate that carries with it the responsibility to educate nurses qualified to fulfill the professional role and uphold standards of the profession.
The faculty of the SON believes that nursing education:
- Requires innovative approaches in order to prepare professional nurses now and in the future to address the health care needs of individuals, families, and communities through patient-centered nursing care, teamwork and collaboration, communication, and information technology.
- Has a foundation in the arts and sciences of liberal education which is needed to ground nursing in the complexity of the human experience.
- Prepares students to recognize, understand, and work with nursing phenomena and to understand the results of these efforts in relation to human values including life, justice, personal freedom, health, and well-being.
- Prepares students to use empirical knowledge as a guide for judgment, decision-making, and the provision of quality and safe professional nursing practice.
- Prepares students across all curriculum levels to learn, work, and live productively in ever changing national and international societies.
The faculty of the SON also believes that:
- Students learn best when challenged by educational experiences that are salient and incorporate real-life situations and issues related to systems-based practice.
- Diversity among faculty, students, and members of national and international societies enriches the educational experience.
- A commitment to life-long learning is essential to the professional development of nurses, the health of national and international societies, and the growth of the discipline.
- Faculty members are responsible for determining what is to be learned and how that learning can be assessed, evaluated, and enhanced.
Click here for our Learn to Help Others video on the School of Nursing.
The Human Health Building boasts of an environmentally-friendly design by virtue of its construction from renewable materials; advanced air quality and water conservation systems; and geothermal heating and cooling system, which aids in the reduction of carbon emissions and energy consumption and output. Due to the success of these innovations, it was certified as Michigan's first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum University Building in 2013.
The HHB serves as the primary residence of Oakland University's School of Nursing and School of Health Sciences, and includes five stories of lecture, seminar, and lab-style classroom spaces designed to better facilitate the academic development of its tenants. The Oakland University School of Nursing Simulation Lab is a state-of-the-art facility that provides a rich experiential learning opportunity for students to integrate theory with practice. Our simulation scenarios allow students to make real-time clinical decisions in an environment that poses no risk to patients. The program promotes competency, confidence, and autonomy necessary to position our students for success upon transition to practice.
History of School of Nursing Programs
1973 OU President informs the Michigan Board of Nursing of the intent of OU to institute a four-year BSN program.
1974 BSN program was approved by the OU Faculty Senate and Board of Trustees.
1975 First cohort of students admitted to the BSN program.
1978 First cohort of students’ graduate.
1980 BSN program receives Michigan Board of Nursing approval and initial NLN accreditation, continuing accreditation received in 1987 and 1995.
1984 MSN Nursing Administration track began.
1986 The first student graduated from the MSN program.
1987 MSN Adult Health Nursing track began.
1988 MSN program received initial accreditation by the NLN, continuing accreditation received in 1995 and 2002.
1991 MSN Nurse Anesthesia track began in collaboration with William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak.
1992 Nurse Anesthesia (NA) track received initial accreditation by COA, continuing accreditation received in 1996, 2002, and 2012.
1994 BSN Degree Completion Sequence (RN-BSN track) began.
1997 Post-Master’s Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Certificate track began.
1997 MSN FNP track began.
1997 Nursing Administration and Adult Health tracks discontinued.
2000 MSN Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) Adult Health track began.
2002 BSN and MSN programs receive initial accreditation through CCNE, continuing accreditation received in 2012. MSN Nurse Anesthesia track receives a 10-year continued accreditation from the COA.
2003 MSN Adult/Gerontological Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP) track and Post-Master’s AGPCNP Certificate began.
2003 MSN Nursing Education (NE) track and NE Graduate Certificate began.
2003 CNS Adult Health track revised to Acute Care CNS.
2005 Accelerated Second Degree (ASD) BSN track began.
2006 Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program began.
2010 MSN Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) track began.
2012 MSN CNL, Acute Care CNS, and NE tracks – admissions suspended.
2012 BSN and MSN programs receive continuing accreditation through CCNE.
2012 NA track receives continuing accreditation by COA.
2012 DNP program receives initial accreditation through CCNE, with continuing accreditation received in 2017.
2015 MSN Forensic Nursing (FN) track and FN Graduate Certificate began.
2017 DNP and Post-Masters Certificate Programs receive continuing accreditation through CCNE. NA program is the first in the state of MI to receive approval to offer the DNP.
2018 DNP-NA track admits its inaugural class.
2019 PhD in Nursing program began.
2019 MSN NA track graduated the last cohort of students.
2019 Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) granted first year of funding.
2020 MSN Adult/Gerontological Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) track.
2021 Post-Master’s AGACNP Certificate began.
2021 MSN CNL track restarted.
2022 BSN, MSN, PMC, and DNP programs receive continuing accreditation through CCNE.
2022 DNP-NA program receives continuing accreditation by COA.
2025 50th Anniversary of first cohort of students admitted to the BSN program.
School of Nursing
433 Meadow Brook Road
Rochester, MI 48309-4452
(location map)
(248) 364-8733
[email protected]
M-F 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
School of Nursing
433 Meadow Brook Road
Rochester, MI 48309-4452
(location map)
(248) 364-8733
M-F 8 a.m.-5 p.m.