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East Carolina University
College of Nursing
MEMORANDUM
TO: Dr. Rose Allen, Chair ECU Graduate Curriculum Committee
FROM: Dr. Marie E. Pokorny, Director of PhD Program
Date: February 28, 2012
RE: Explanation of PhD Curriculum Changes
The College of Nursing PhD program has been in place for ten years. The proposed changes are
recommendations from the Graduate faculty in performing ongoing curriculum assessment and
evaluation and program feedback from our present students and 18 graduates. These changes and
revisions follow the guidelines from the 2010 American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)
standards, The Research-Focused Doctoral Program in Nursing: Pathways to Excellence.
It is a pleasure to submit to your committee the enclosed course package for revising the PhD
curriculum. The changes involve 6 areas:
 Changes in course descriptions and objectives in five courses (8225, 8226, 8227, 8240, 8241,
8265)
 Credit hour change in one course (8255)
 Title, course description and objective change for one course (8265)
 Title change for 1 course (8260)
 The addition of 4 new courses ( 8200 Grant writing for Nursing Research (3 SH) and 3 one hour
Seminars: 8201, 8202, 8203)
 Deleting the two 3 semester hours of cognate courses and increasing elective hours from 6 to
a required range of 9-12 credit hours.
The rationale for each of these changes are explained below.
Revision of six courses: 6 courses have changes in course description and objectives; one course has
changes in course hours only and one course has a title change. (The Graduate Curriculum Course Proposal
Forms are attached for each course where required).
1. 8225 Development of Nursing Knowledge
2. 8226 Statistical Methods for Nursing Research I
3.
8227 Statistical Methods for Nursing Research II
4. 8240 Quantitative Methods
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5.
8241 Instrumentation and Measurement
6. 8265 Evolving Nurse Scientist
7. 8255 Directed Research (change in course hours only).
8. 8260 State of Nursing Science (title change only).
Rationale for Change: The course descriptions and course objectives (8225,8226,8227,8240,8241,8265)
were changed to update and more accurately reflect the course content. The hours for Directed
Research 8255 were reduced from 7 credit hours to 2 (3 credit hour) courses for a total of 6 credit
hours.
Six hours of cognate courses were deleted and replaced with 9-12 required elective hours. These
elective hours will give the student more flexibility in selecting course work to support the dissertation
research.
The course titles were changed in the following 2 courses:
8260 State of Clinical Nursing Science to State of Nursing Science
Rationale for Title Change: These changes are being requested to ensure that these program courses
are titled and described to more accurately describe what we are doing. The course title change does
not change course content in any way.
8265 Evolving Clinical Nursing Science to Evolving Nurse Scientist
Rationale for Title Change: These changes are being requested to ensure that these program courses
are titled and described to more accurately describe what we are doing.
Four new courses are being proposed. (The Graduate Curriculum Course Proposal Forms are attached for
each course).
NURS 8200 Grant Writing for Nursing Research (3) – New course – Justification: This course is being
introduced to serve as one of the base courses for all the PhD students. Students are expected to be
able to seek financial support through competitive intramural and extramural academic and research
awards. Additionally, student are expected to be able to work as a research assistant for a funded
project.
Three one hour Seminar Courses:
1. NURS 8201 Seminar in Research Agendas
2. NURS 8202 Seminar in Interprofessional Research
3. NURS 8203 Seminar in Research Dissemination
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New Seminar courses – Justification: This sequence of seminar courses are being introduced to address
specific learning needs in the PhD Program and to provide more instruction to our students in a
seminar format. Our PhD program experience has shown that given the broad scope of our research
it is necessary to have scheduled didactic seminar times to acquaint advancing PhD students with the
expected outcomes pertinent to the role of the research-focused doctorate . These seminars will give
our students additional opportunities to share in their specific research interests while at the same
time provide accurate accounting of the amount and level of instruction being delivered.
Six hours of cognate courses will be deleted and replaced with 9-12 hours of focused electives. These
upper division electives in other disciplines will lay additional foundation work that will support the
dissertation research. A hallmark of doctoral education is a highly individualized program of study that
develops expertise in the core knowledge and methods of the discipline and depth in a selected area of
research.
Summary
These revisions result in a curriculum that is reflective of courses and content necessary for the
characteristics/competencies expected of PhD graduates in Nursing according to the national guidelines
and standards of the AACN.
PhD in Nursing Requirements:
Core Courses: 8220, 8225, 8226, 8227, 8235, 8240, 8241, 8260, 8265, 3 (1) credit hour Seminar Courses
Grant Writing for Nursing Research (3)
Core courses: 33 SH
Focused Electives: 9-12 SH (Disciplines other than Nursing)
Directed Research: 6 SH
Dissertation: 6 SH minimum
Research Ethics (Interdisciplinary Course) 2 SH
Minimum TOTAL………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 56