About the College
The University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville is a metropolitan clinical
teaching site for the Gainesville-based Colleges of Nursing, Medicine and Pharmacy.
Students from these colleges rotate through the various clinical settings of the
Shands Jacksonville campus, the UF Primary Care Centers and UF Specialty Care Centers located throughout Jacksonville.
In addition to University of Florida students, other local colleges and schools
use this campus for student clinical placement.
The UF College of Nursing began offering coursework through the Jacksonville campus
in 1979 for students seeking a Master’s Degree in Nursing (MSN). In 1985, the campus
became home to the Nurse Midwifery clinical track, which enabled a strong collaborative
relationship between the College of Nursing, the
UF Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the obstetrical nursing
department at Shands Jacksonville (then University Medical Center). That relationship
remains strong today.
Advancing distance education technology over the ensuing years supported a closer
relationship between the Jacksonville and Gainesville campuses, facilitating the
growth of both nursing programs. In 2001, Nursing opened access to its Ph.D. in
Nursing degree program via the Jacksonville campus, the first nursing doctoral degree
program in the area. In 2007, it began offering one of Florida’s first clinical
nursing doctoral degree programs, the Doctorate of Nursing Practice, through both
campuses.
Today, Jacksonville is home base for approximately 85 graduate nursing students
pursuing M.S.N., D.N.P. and Ph.D. degrees. It contributes approximately one third
of the college’s total graduate students each year, and its graduates hold leadership
positions throughout the Jacksonville clinical and academic communities. The campus
is supported by eight on-site nursing faculty members
who serve on various Shands Jacksonville and UF campus committees.
Nursing classes are held in the nursing suite, located on the third floor of the
Learning Resource Center on Shands Jacksonville's main campus, and in several education
classrooms located throughout the Jacksonville campus. Web-based delivery is offered
for some courses as well.
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