Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing receives national award recognizing inclusive excellence
The school's DEI initiatives have been called a "model" for other nursing schools.
August 14, 2024
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The Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing has received a prestigious national award for its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which have led to “lasting changes” within the school and a nearly 7 percent increase in enrollment among undergraduate nursing students of color in three years.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), a leading academic nursing organization, awarded MNSON its 2024 Inclusive Excellence, Belonging, and Sustainability in Nursing Education Award in August. The annual honor recognizes nursing schools for “successfully meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse student population and for cultivating a sense of belonging in nursing,” according to AACN.
Deborah Trautman, AACN president and chief executive officer, called MNSON a “model” for other nursing schools thanks to its “efforts to develop a diverse cadre of nurse leaders and sustain a culture of belonging.”
MNSON, the organization added, “is making a real impact on diversifying the workforce and helping nurses from all backgrounds thrive as professional nurses.”
The AACN includes more than 875 nursing schools at public and private institutions that offer undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees. This year, MNSON was the only school to receive the AACN honor.
“This award speaks volumes about the growth of our Inclusive Excellence program and our firm belief that in order to be excellent, we must be inclusive,” said MNSON Dean Lorna Finnegan. “Creating a diverse nursing workforce to serve our communities and advance health equity is central to our Jesuit mission as a school and a university, and we are honored to be recognized by the AACN for our commitment to this work.”
In higher education, inclusive excellence refers to an institution’s ability to engage the diversity of its community and promote success among students from all backgrounds.
AACN cited a number of initiatives at MNSON that led to the honor, including the CARE (Collaboration, Access, Resources, and Equity) Pathway to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, which offers intensive academic, financial, and socio-emotional support to students who self-identify as under-represented. The CARE Pathway has grown to nearly six dozen students since its launch in 2021 with a $2.2 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration.
The school marked the graduation of its first cohort of 12 CARE Pathway students in May.
AACN also noted the school’s broad faculty-staff involvement in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and its hiring of an associate dean for inclusive excellence in 2021.
Associate Professor Dian Squire, who holds the position, said the AACN award reflects the school’s investment of time, resources, and energy in DEI programming that supports students of all races, ethnicities, and gender identities. “Nursing education provides a unique opportunity to challenge and change the status quo,” Squire said.
Nurses have a powerful voice within health care systems, and it is crucial that they use it to address systemic injustices that perpetuate health disparities.
— Dian Squire, associate professor and inaugural associate dean of inclusive excellence
Dominique Jordan Turner, Loyola University Chicago’s chief diversity officer and vice president of institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion, noted that research shows patients of color have better health outcomes when they are treated by nurses of the same backgrounds. MNSON’s innovative work, she said, is transforming the nursing workforce to better match the population it serves.
“The school’s unwavering dedication to creating a more inclusive and equitable learning environment serves as a beacon of inspiration for educational institutions everywhere,” she said. “I am confident MNSON will continue to lead by example and make a lasting difference in the lives of students, faculty, and the nursing profession as a whole.”
The AACN cited MNSON’s “comprehensive approach to meaningful change” through recruitment, mentoring, strategic planning, and curriculum redesign. Those initiatives included:
- An inaugural Inclusive Excellence Day in 2023 to address how the nursing profession can promote health equity among historically marginalized populations
- The creation of a faculty, staff, and student Inclusive Excellence Task Force in 2020 to study and improve the school’s DEI culture
- Revising the school’s mission to incorporate DEI and creating a five-year, metrics-driven strategic plan to be launched this fall
- Educating faculty on gender inclusion in the classroom and the use of student-preferred pronouns
Between 2020 and 2023, enrollment of students of color in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program rose from 45 to 51.9 percent. The school has also prioritized DEI in research and through new programs like Trans*forming Care, an online learning curriculum aimed at improving nursing care of transgender patients and funded by a $646,000 National Institutes of Health grant.
MNSON has received several DEI awards, including Loyola’s Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s Catalyst Award in 2023, which recognizes a team that has changed policy, procedure, or practices to reduce barriers or create a sense of belonging at Loyola.
The school also received its first Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for Health Professions Schools in 2023.
The Inclusive Excellence award will be presented to MNSON at AACN’s Access, Connection, and Engagement Symposium in June 2025.
Read more stories from the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
