Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing
- Summer January 10 for those applying to the PhD program
- Fall March 10 for those applying to the Bacc to PhD program
- Spokane: Yes
- 550 TOEFL Minimum score
- 80 TOEFLI Minimum score
Degree Description:
Enroll in the PhD in Nursing program and learn how to design, conduct, and disseminate research that will generate new knowledge directed toward changing nursing science, healthcare, and nursing practice. You will join a small cohort of nurse scholars, developing supportive relationships with these fellow students and faculty. Faculty and staff are accessible and committed to your success, and you will have regular research and academic mentoring through the establishment of your career as a nurse scientist. Approximately 66% of our students are funded through research/teaching assistantship, scholarships, or Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program awards.
Admission Requirements:
Click here to go to the College of Nursing’s PhD admission requirements page.
Please also check out the Steps to Apply page to get started today!
Student Learning Outcomes:
All graduates will be able to:
- Contribute to advancing nursing science and practice through clinical research.
- Analyze, construct, and test theoretical frameworks that guide nursing research design, methodology, data analyses, and the transfer of new knowledge into practice.
- Create effective interdisciplinary collaborations to foster research and the transfer of evidence-based knowledge into best clinical practices.
- Synthesize knowledge from a variety of disciplines to create research designs and methods for nursing science and to address ethical, social, cultural, political, and professional issues.
- Implement proven and emerging technologies to enhance nursing research and education.
- Implement innovative research designs, methodologies, leadership skills, health education, and/or lifestyle modification techniques to address the health care needs of vulnerable populations and disparities in the access to or delivery of care.
Student Opportunities:
Opportunities to collaborate and publish with research faculty, present at national conferences
Career Opportunities:
Graduates are qualified for advanced faculty appointments or for research roles in a number of healthcare settings. Students may focus on research relevant to their current field or practice, engaging in evidence-based research that will help shape health care delivery and processes.
Careers and job titles of our graduates include:
- Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor
- Positions in business, private, or public sectors in health care
- Nurse Scientist
- Nurse Researcher
- Chief of Clinical Research
- Director of Clinical Performance Lab
- Director of Research
- Director of Inter-professional Education
Career Placements:
Colleges and schools of Nursing, Education and Research departments of hospitals and other health care environments, state and local government departments related to health care
Faculty Members:
Banasik, Jacquelyn Lou, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Barbosa-Leiker, Celestina, PhD
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Examining psychosocial risk factors of heart disease, specifically the predictive ability of stress, depression, and anger on traditional heart disease risk factors such as hypertension, adiposity, and dyslipidemia.
Burduli, Ekaterina
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Butterfield, Patricia, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Environmental health nursing, Household environmental risk reduction, Occupational and environmental health in rural settings, Conceptual approaches to public health nursing.
Chacon, Christina
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Davis, Andra, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Interprofessional education
Day, Lisa
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
DePriest, Dawn
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Diede, Tulla
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Dotson, Joann, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Eddy, Linda Lee, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Eide, Phyllis, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Rural health, global climate change, and public health
Eti, Deborah
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Fincham, Sarah J, D.N.P.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
HPV Vaccine education and uptake
Immunization education
DNP student education
DNP project development
Communicable disease
Patient-provider communication-exploring what is most effective
Contraceptive Management
The role and contributions of the nurse practitioner in health care
Adolescent health
STD prevention and treatment
Public health
Fritz, Shelly, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Geil, Shelly
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Graves, Janessa, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Pediatric injury research, health services research, head injuries in children & adolescents, occupational injuries among working adolescents, impacts of work on young people, global health.
Haberman, Melvin R, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Oncology, cancer survivorship, health-related quality of life, demands of illness, alternative therapies for cancer, mixed methods research designs.
Hoeksel, Renee Celeste, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Hunter, Anita, Ph,D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Global health, child and adolescent health, curriculum development, organizational systems, and leadership, resilience, global health and environment
James, Lois
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
James, Steven
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Kaplan, Louise, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
ARNP prescribing of controlled substances
APRN workforce
ARNP reimbursement
DNP program evaluation
Landscape assessment of readiness for implementation of the family nurse practitioner role in Swaziland
Medical marijuana
Klein, Tracy Ann, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Interface between public policy and prescribing patterns as they relate to practitioner, patient, and institutional factors”
Mason, Anne Michele, D.N.P.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Nelson, Lonnie
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Nguyen-Truong, Connie, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Cervical cancer screening health disparity
Odom-Maryon, Tamara, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Application of statistical methods, with an emphasis on longitudinal data analysis techniques, to health data including studies focusing on nursing interventions, environmental health, and asthma.
Oneal, Gail Ann, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Health literacy, risk communication and health information use, risk messages, environmental and occupational health, population health, underserved and rural populations
Postma, Julie Marie, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Environmental health promotion, socio-cultural aspects of environmental health, environmental justice, social determinants of health
Rasmor, Melody
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Sarkinen, Bonnie
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Schenk, Elizabeth
Severtsen, Billie M, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Ethical decision making in health care, life narratives of illness and quality of life, Heideggerian Hermaneutic Phenomenology, and health care policy
Shishani, Kawkab, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Tobacco Treatment Specialist
Sinclair, Ka'imi
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Smart, Denise, D.P.H.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Work place safety, military health, women’s health and health and safety for disaster response workers.
Stover, Pamela, DNP
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Geriatric mental health; vulnerable populations and mental health; therapeutic communication; dementia care; integrated mental health care
VanSon, Catherine, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Gerontology, managing chronic conditions, qualitative methods, late-in-life migration, health literacy, gero-education
Wilson, Marian L, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Pain, self-management programs to assist patients with persistent (chronic) pain, mood disorders, opioid dependency/misuse, addiction.
Wood, Natsuko
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee