Director of FNP Clinical Education, Nursing

Located in Boston’s historic Fenway area, Simmons University has a strong tradition of empowering women and challenging traditional gender roles. Simmons was founded for equality 125 years ago as one of the first higher education institutions dedicated to helping women become leaders. Today, our university continues to grow and evolve and now offers Boston’s only women’s undergraduate program and graduate programs open to all. 

You’re joining our community at an especially exciting time as we continue to innovate for the future. Simmons recently launched a six-school academic structure that leverages our expert faculty and longstanding expertise in professions that make our communities stronger. In addition, we continue to highlight our high-value education proposition that is delivering greater ROI to students and putting them on the fast track to career growth and success. You’ll find that people who work here truly believe in our mission of preparing students to become social justice-oriented leaders who excel in their professions and their communities. This commitment and pride make for a dynamic workplace.

As a university that values 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.

The Director of Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Clinical Education is a 12-month full-time faculty contract position employed by the University reporting to the Director of Advanced Practice - FNP. The Clinical Director will be prepared as a Family 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 in the FNP tracks. Key responsibilities include overseeing the curriculum, faculty/staff, and overall student experience in all FNP CDM courses. The Clinical Director plays a key role in ensuring academic rigor and curricular alignment of the FNP clinical experience between all FNP tracks, while meeting the needs of current students and aligning with the overall vision of the standards of School of Nursing and the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). 

Additional academic responsibilities of the Clinical Director include:  

• Teach as section instructor for the FNP Immersion and Clinical Qualification Course, as noted in annual contract.
• Teach and support full in-person FNP Immersion Experiences, as noted in annual contract. 

CDM Curriculum Support and Delivery:  

• Responsible for managing FNP CDM Course Lead(s) to ensure all course objectives, faculty/student management, course iteration/redesign, and curriculum maintenance requirements are being met. 
• Manages the educational process to ensure students and faculty in FNP CDM are involved in a positive educational experience through the learning, teaching, and social environment and are meeting curricular learning objectives/competencies. 

 
Oversight of Student Experience & Resolution of Student Issues:  

• Collaborate with the Director of PMHNP Clinical Education and other clinical administrators to ensure consistency in policies governing graduate nursing clinical experiences. 
• Work closely with Academic Advising, Operations team, and other pertinent individuals to closely monitor overall student experience in FNP CDM.  
• Collaborate with FNP CDM faculty on ensuring appropriate clinical experiences to meet stated course objectives.  
• Collaborate with FNP CDM faculty on any clinical placement-related escalations.  
• Oversee and ensure consistency in all grading practices in FNP 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 - FNP 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 FNP 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 FNP CDM courses.
• Provide faculty mentoring, training, evaluation and development to FNP CDM Section Instructors. 
• Foster and encourage online Section Instructors to promote a culture of learning that values mutual responsibility, life-long learning, 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 Nursing leadership team to ensure evaluation and assessment of FNP CDM adjunct faculty are being conducted on an interval and annual basis.​ 
• Collaborate with the 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 - FNP 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 NP Student Tracking System and/or student files.    
• Oversees clinical placements to assure that students are obtaining adequate hours for completion of FNP training.    
• Leads Clinical Placement Team and Section Instructors in implementing preceptor and clinical site evaluations.  
• Attends Clinical Placement Team meetings and completes follow up on outstanding issues with placements, sites, and preceptors for FNP students.  
• Oversees FNP Clinical Placement Readers in reviewing clinical placements and sites in 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 FNP 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 FN PCDM Course Leads, CDM faculty, and Nursing Operations team.
• 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 Director of Operations, is responsible for Board of Nursing compliance as it relates to faculty oversight of students, preceptor site placements, and site visits in the FNP programs. 
• In collaboration with the CDM Course Leads, Chair for Graduate Nursing Programs, 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 for Graduate Nursing Programs.
• Attends School of Nursing Meetings and other relevant meetings virtually or in-person as requested. 
• Serve as an active voting faculty member of the School of Nursing, attending meetings in-person or virtually as scheduled. 
• 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 they are assigned.
• Be available to sign off as a designated Nursing representative on program-related documents required by the respective State Boards of Nursing to maintain FNP program integrity.  
• Other duties as assigned by the Dean or Chair for Graduate Nursing Programs.

General Qualifications:  

• MSN, FNP APRN required
• DNP or PhD required, or in process
• Experienced, board certified Family 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/APRN license

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.