School of Nursing

 Welcome to Fall Semester! Scrappy makes the grand rounds. View photos of Scrappy's visit to the Metropolitan Building!

Director's Message

It is hard to believe that Summer 2025 has come and gone, and we welcome the 7th cohort of ABSN students to campus! We also have an exceptionally strong (and large) cohort of RN-BSN students. Our new group of traditional BSN students came to orientation with an appropriate mixture of excitement and trepidation. With the addition of the DNP: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner concentration this fall, those students will join a new cohort of DNP family nurse practitioner and adult gerontology acute care students. We now have six doctoral concentrations. These NP students join those in our nurse anesthesia, nursing administration, and post master’s programs. When we enrolled our first DNP: Post Master’s students in 2011, we committed to doctoral education. The concentrations we offer, no matter the degree, are the result of careful planning in response to the needs of our community.

The MobileMoc outreach has become an integral part of the health and wellbeing of our aging adults in the 10 surrounding counties. The interprofessional team lead by Kristi Wick and Meagan Oslund is making an inroad into those rural areas reaching adults and caregivers who have not had access to care - some for many years. They have completed their first quarter and are analyzing the copious amounts of data they have generated. 
As we move into the semester, our faculty will work to complete the transition to a competency-based curriculum. In 2021, the member deans and directors of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing approved The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education. This document outlined expected competencies that all students in nursing whether in our BSN or DNP must achieve. As they progress, students will demonstrate achievement in leveled competencies that increase in complexity through tailored learning experiences. The school has been implementing the Essentials since they were approved, and we hope to have this fully implemented in this academic year for all programs. 

Finally, the Health Sciences Building has an expected move in date of Fall 2027 – a short two years from now. We will keep you informed of our progress! We have come a long way since Mary B. Jackson was tasked to start a BSN program at UTC. I am sure she is smiling as she sees how her vision has evolved.  
Please feel free to reach out to us. We would love to hear from you. 
Chris

Christine Benz Smith, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC
UC Foundation Professor
Director, School of Nursing
Chief Health Affairs Officer
 

The baccalaureate degree in nursing, master's degree in nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice and post-graduate APRN certificate at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org).

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.