Mission and Values

Integrity. Social Justice. Innovation. Inclusion. Impact.
These aren’t just words; they are the values that guide us.

Mission

Our mission is to make a significant impact on health by advancing science, promoting equity, demonstrating practice excellence, and preparing leaders in the discipline of nursing.

Vision

To be the preeminent intellectual and transformative force in improving health through nursing.

Philosophy

We want to meet the health needs of society in a global and multicultural world. To this end, we integrate scholarship, research, education, and practice to build a culture of inquiry that values intellectual curiosity and collaboration. We also have a set of guiding principles for the School community.

Scholarship and Research

We believe that the arts and sciences are the basis for nursing knowledge and scholarship. The former—nursing knowledge—defines empirical, philosophical, historical, ethical, and personal ways of knowing; the latter—scholarship—encompasses research and the integration of research into practice and health policy formation.

Penn Nursing is responsive to today’s health care influences, like evolving models of care, consumer advocacy, demographic changes, and advances in science and technology, and our faculty are committed to pushing the boundaries of nursing science.

Education

A Penn Nursing education leads our students toward meeting their academic and professional goals. Our educational environment fosters independence, ethical behavior, critical thinking, and sensitive interactions concerning cultures and viewpoints.

All of our programs—from baccalaureate to post-doctoral—are enriched by the varied perspectives of a culturally diverse population.

The baccalaureate program, including traditional and second degree students, focuses on professional nursing practice across the continuum of healthcare, specifically within vulnerable populations. The curriculum reflects changes in science and technology, and emphasizes evidence-based practice and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Master’s programs focus on advanced practice nursing and administration, with an emphasis on specialty and subspecialty practice to meet our changing societal needs. Graduate nurses are prepared to creatively combine knowledge and skills, with special attention given to clinical decision-making and management.

The Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree is dedicated to advancing the discipline of nursing through the translation and dissemination of research. Graduates build on their education and experience to become innovative health care leaders at the top of their fields, improving health around the world through policy, practice, and research.

Pre- and post-doctoral education is set up to advance nursing through research. The goal is to equip students with a foundation that allows them to make substantive contributions to nursing scholarship. Strong faculty mentorship is integral to these programs.

Practice

Nursing is an evidence-based profession that improves the health and quality of life for individuals, families, and communities throughout the world; nursing practice, then, is defined as the construction, application, and evaluation of knowledge and action within our field.

Nursing care must function in both autonomous and collaborative health care and community settings, and Penn Nursing serves as the model for caring in a global and multicultural context; here, we seek to promote health in every part of the world by preparing nurses to be responsive to the needs of all societies. Our goals are to improve and maintain optimal health, prevent disease, enhance the quality of recovery from illness, and support patients and families as they cope with health problems.

We are proud to see our work improving patient care across the world.