About Us
The School of Nursing and Health Studies has set the standard for quality nursing and health studies in South Florida for more than 50 years. Established in 1948 as the region’s first baccalaureate nursing program, the school has educated nurses at the master’s level since 1976 and the doctoral level since 1985. In 2005 the school expanded its program offerings to include UM’s health science program and changed its name to the School of Nursing and Health Studies.
The school’s enrollment in 2007-2008 is 400 nursing students and 83 health science students. Male students constitute 18% of nursing student enrollment in comparison to roughly 9% nationwide. With a minority enrollment of over 60%, the school’s student body remains among the most diverse in the nation. In 2007-2008, the student body is 37% Hispanic, 37% White, 21% Black or African American, and 5% Asian American. Nationwide, only 2% of R.N.s are Hispanic while just 5% are Black or African American. Entering freshman nursing students at the University of Miami currently have an average weighted GPA of 3.7 and an average SAT of 1260. More than 4,000 UM nursing alumni live and work in nearly all 50 states and eight foreign countries.
The school collaborates regularly in education and research programs with UM’s Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, one of the nation’s premiere academic medical centers. Nursing and health studies students are exposed to clinical experiences on UM’s medical campus as well as at more than 170 health and social service organizations throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe Counties serving some of the most health at-risk populations in the nation. The school is a national leader in the area of cultural competency, which recognizes an individual’s unique health beliefs and practices, having pioneered this aspect of the nursing curriculum in 1980s.
