Recognizing Progress in Advancement Services
To meet the needs of an aging population and address persistent workforce shortages, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) announced a new award recognizing progress in advancement services aimed at supporting nurse educators and faculty.
Introduced in the February 2025 edition of their Faculty Link newsletter, this initiative aligns with broader efforts to stabilize the nursing education pipeline and expand career pathways for nurse leaders.
The award reflects a growing recognition of the critical role faculty play in diversifying the nursing workforce and improving clinical preparedness.
Addressing the Faculty Shortage
Nurse educators are vital to relieving the ongoing nursing shortage, but the field has faced persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified professionals.
AACN’s new award seeks to highlight innovative strategies that attract or retain faculty, particularly in underserved areas.
Eligibility criteria include programs that integrate technology-enhanced teaching, flexible scheduling, or partnerships with clinical organizations.
For example, the award might recognize institutions using virtual reality simulations to enhance geriatric care training or those pioneering collaborative degree pathways with healthcare providers.
The announcement comes alongside reports of a 6% projected employment growth for nurses from 2023 to 2033, creating demand for over 900,000 new nurses in the U.S. alone.
This underscores the urgency of building faculty capacity to scale training programs.
AACN’s initiative complements efforts by organizations like the NHS, which aims to increase adult nursing training places by 92% by 2032.
Broader Trends in Nursing Education
While the award targets faculty, its implications extend to practicing nurses.
Telehealth adoption, for instance, has created demand for nurses skilled in remote monitoring and digital patient assessment.
Specializations like geriatric care and informatics are also growing, leading to higher salaries and career flexibility.
For educators, these shifts require adapting curricula, a challenge the AACN award will incentivize through recognition of pilot programs or scalable innovations.
To apply for the award, institutions must document measurable outcomes tied to recruitment, retention, or curriculum innovation.
Past examples from AACN include reduced turnover by 30% through mindfulness-based wellness programs for faculty and a model fostering interprofessional collaboration between nurse educators and pharmacists.
Looking Ahead
As AACN’s award debuts this spring, it reflects a strategy of leveraging recognition to drive systemic change.
By highlighting replicable solutions, it aims to create a network effect across nursing schools.
Coupled with policy measures like expanded loan forgiveness programs for educators, such efforts may gradually ease pressure on the nursing workforce.
For working nurses considering academic roles, the award signals growing opportunities for skill development and leadership growth.
For updates on the award, including application deadlines and case studies of past winners, visit the AACN Faculty Link page.
Additional insights on workforce trends can be found in AACN’s Graduate Nursing Student Academy resources.