Director of PMHNP Clinical Education, Nursing (Remote Position)

The Director of PMHNP Clinical Education is a 12-month full-time faculty contract position employed by the University reporting to the Director of Advanced Practice - PMHNP Program. The Clinical Director will be prepared as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. This role requires both teaching and administrative responsibilities.  

The Clinical Director holds an administrative appointment related to managing all program needs and day-to-day operations related to Clinical Decision Making (CDM) courses. Key responsibilities include overseeing the curriculum, faculty/staff and overall student experience in all CDM courses. The Clinical Director plays a key role in ensuring academic rigor and curricular alignment, while meeting the needs of current students and aligning with the overall vision of the standards of Simmons’ School of Nursing and the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). 

Additional academic responsibilities of the Clinical Director include:  

• Teach as a CDM Section Instructor per contractual year.

• Coordinate, oversee, and attend Boston-based Immersion Experiences per contractual year. Travel reimbursement will be provided for those who are outside of the Boston area, in accordance with applicable policy.

Curriculum Support and Delivery:  

• Responsible for managing CDM Course Lead(s) to ensure all course objectives, faculty/student management, course iteration/redesign, course map development and maintenance, and curriculum maintenance requirements are being met. 

• Manages the educational process to ensure students and faculty in CDM are involved in a positive educational experience through the learning, teaching and social environment, and is meeting curricular learning objectives/competencies.  

• Coordinate Immersion experience orientation to include Student Success, Clinical Placement Team (CPT), academic advising, and other appropriate contributors.

• Supervises the Typhon Group PMHNP platform in conjunction with the Operations team to ensure relevant data capture and appropriate reports demonstrating required student clinical competencies. 

Oversight of Student Experience & Resolution of Student Issues:  

• Work closely with the academic support team and other pertinent individuals to closely monitor overall student experience in CDM.  

• Collaborate with CDM faculty on ensuring appropriate clinical experiences to meet stated course objectives.  

• Collaborate with CDM faculty on any clinical placement related escalations.  

• Oversee and ensure consistency in all grading practices in CDM.

• Partner with our technical partner, 2U, to better cultivate and mentor Section Instructors for best practices as an effective online instructor and their use of the technology.  

• Investigate and resolve student educational issues requiring academic actions in consultation with the Director of Advanced Practice - PMHNP and other pertinent individuals according to University policies and procedures. 

• Collaborates with the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Accessibility Services on escalated student and faculty concerns related to CDM. 

Core Clinical Curriculum Faculty/Staff Supervision:  

• Work closely with the Graduate Nursing Staffing Specialist and Human Resources to vet and hire all faculty for all CDM courses.

• Provide faculty mentoring, training, evaluation and development to CDM Section Instructors. 

• Foster and encourage online Section Instructors to promote a culture of learning that values mutual responsibility, life-long learning, diversity, and ethics, as well as personal and professional development. 

• Ensure faculty readiness around online teaching and learning methods, playing a crucial role in talent development and retention. 

• Collaborate with School of Nursing leadership team to ensure evaluation and assessment of CDM adjunct faculty are being conducted on an interval and annual basis.​ 

• Collaborate with the School of Nursing Operations team and Registrar’s Office to support course and faculty scheduling. 

• Investigate and resolve student and staff/faculty educational and clinical progression problems requiring academic actions in consultation with the Director of Advanced Practice - PMHNP and Academic Advisors according to University policies and procedures.  

Clinical Placement Team and Clinical Site Delivery: 

• Responsible for adequate delivery of clinical sites across the U.S. and assures documentation is appropriately managed for student visits in Typhon and/or student files.    

• Oversees clinical placements to assure that students are obtaining adequate hours for completion of PMHNP training.    

• Leads Clinical Placement Team and Section Instructors in implementing a preceptor and clinical site evaluation.  

• Leads CPT meetings and completes follow up on outstanding issues with 2U placements, sites and preceptors.

• Collaborates with the CPT related to clinical placement orientation course materials.  

• Oversees and reviews preceptors, clinical placements, and sites on a timely basis, and reviews the site visit documentation from CDM faculty, according to the Clinical Preceptor Handbook, and any gaps in pre-term preparation.    

• Oversee all preceptors and site visitors to ensure students meet learning objectives and have the confidence to implement newly learned skills.   

• Ensures site visit outcomes are being reviewed and addressed, with the support of CDM Course Leads and CDM faculty.

• Collaborates with the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Accessibility Services on student and faculty concerns and student complaints related to placement. 

• Responsible for both day-to-day management of all staff/faculty involved in clinical placement education as well as longer term strategic clinical education planning.   

• In collaboration with the Dean and the Operations team, is responsible for Board of Nursing compliance as it relates to faculty oversight of students, preceptor site placements, and site visits. 

• In collaboration with the CDM Course Leads, Program Director, and Operations team, responsible for site visit planning on the regional site visit plan, ensuring that students receive at least one site visit during their clinical training.

Service Responsibilities:    

• Participates in relevant committees and other team meetings/projects either virtually or in person as assigned by the Dean or Chair of Graduate  Nursing.

• Attends Graduate Nursing Core Meetings and other relevant meetings virtually or in person as requested. 

• Serve as an active voting member of the School of Nursing

• Provide reviews of PMHNP applicants for program admission as assigned.

• Obtain APRN licensure in additional states as determined by the Operations team (licensure fees reimbursed by Simmons University).  

  • Be available to serve as a resource for state licensure requirements in the state(s) in which assigned.

  • Be available to review, edit, and sign program-related documents, as a designated School of Nursing representative, required by the respective State Boards of Nursing to maintain program integrity.  

  • Actively participate and work collaboratively with the Compliance Team, Operations, or other appropriate individuals to ensure programmatic compliance.

• Other service duties as assigned by the Dean.

General Qualifications:  

• MSN, PMHNP APRN required

• DNSc, DNP, or PhD required or in process

• Experienced, board certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner license required

• At least 2+ years clinical and nursing education experience required 

• Graduate level, clinical didactic teaching experience required 

• Online teaching exposure/experience preferred  

• Must obtain/maintain Massachusetts RN and APRN licenses

Application Instructions

Interested candidates should submit the following electronically with their application: (1) a cover letter including key qualifications for the position and relevant interests; (2) curriculum vitae; (3) a statement of teaching philosophy; and (4) the contact information for at least three professional references. Additional supporting materials to document excellence in teaching, such as course evaluations and syllabi of courses taught, are optional and welcomed.

Instructions to Applicants: Please upload all applicable application materials (e.g. resume/cv, cover letter, writing sample, teaching philosophy, etc.) in the Application Materials box on page 2 ("My Experience") of this application. Documents can be uploaded individually or as a combined document (e.g. PDF).

Simmons University is committed to inclusive excellence in all aspects of an individual’s community experience. As a university committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, Simmons encourages applications from all under-represented groups. Simmons is committed to creating, developing, promoting, and enhancing inclusive hiring practices–at all levels, for all positions–ensuring diverse talent pools and the delivery of a consistent positive candidate experience. Simmons is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to continuing to develop a more diverse faculty, staff, student body, and curriculum.