The School of Nursing faculty believes graduate education denotes the critical appraisal of the concepts and theories that underlie the nature and practice of nursing and the extension of the processes of inquiry (problem solving, critical thinking and research) for the development and testing of knowledge. The faculty believe that the organization of graduate programs must recognize the diverse areas of specialized and advanced practice in nursing, must be guided by the current state of knowledge and societal needs, and must provide a foundation for the continuing evolution of new knowledge both in nursing and in other disciplines.

The faculty also believes that the diverse and varying educational, personal, and cultural experiences that students bring to their graduate studies are valuable to the programs and that the strengths of such background must be fostered and nurtured within educational environments that are characterized by free interchange among scholar/teachers. Furthermore, graduate study requires that scholarly exchange, objectivity, and creativity must prevail in the learning environments of the classroom and the laboratory. The faculty believes that the goals of graduate education require that a high level of inquiry be attained through the development of a collaborative role that involves both faculty and students in the discovery and refinement of knowledge. Further, graduate education requires learning experiences and environments that represent the multicultural composition of the world and reflect the diverse interests and concerns of faculty and students and the communities they serve.

The faculty recognizes that each student also comes with individual goals and that the attainment of these goals will be achieved in various ways. Scholarly inquiry, is a component of all graduate programs in the school.