Welcome to the Gessner College of Nursing

The state of Texas, and yes, the world, needs nurses and you have a bright future in this noble profession. People choose their college based on three primary ideas: cost, ease of the program in their lives, and quality of the program.

Cost: Our nursing program has the lowest median debt of any university nursing program in the state of Texas. Our tuition and fees are “consolidated” so that students know exactly the cost and do not have “extra fees” that add up, much like other programs. We know funding is incredibly important and we thank our donors for their impactful support that means so much to our students.

Program: The curriculum is designed with student success and excellence of student learning in mind. We are a web-enhanced program. Students have direct patient care in every program. They have access to their faculty weekly, in class, in clinical, online, during office hours, and in professional forums. Value-added opportunities to the earned degree await our students with certifications in Sigma Theta Tau Leadership, Texas Department of Health Vision and Hearing, Civic Engagement experiences, publication of scholarly work through ROAR, and interprofessional learning with Household Centered Care. These, and many more, enhance the curriculum and help our students to become excellent nurse leaders and clinical experts as alumni.

Quality: Our pre-licensure students in 2025 had a first time NCLEX-RN pass rate at 100%. This is the seventh time in our 10-year history that we have achieved this mark. 100% of our Family Nurse Practitioner students have passed their national certification exams. We place our graduate students in all of their clinical sites. We are nationally recognized with the Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award. This is the only award given for diversity and inclusion in higher education in the United States. We know that excellence and diversity are not mutually exclusive at the Gessner College of Nursing!

We are in our 5^th year of running a nurse-managed clinic, the College of Nursing Health Clinic, to serve the homeless and underserved. The clinic is in collaboration with St. Paul's United Methodist Church and the Emergency Aid Coalition (EAC) on Fannin Street in downtown Houston. The EAC feeds approximately 250 people a day and the clinic is located in an ideal spot to provide care where the people are.

The amazing College of Nursing faculty equip our students to embark upon a career as an excellent nurse leader and excellent nurse clinicians. Students, faculty, and staff will collectively spend thousands of hours on TEAMS, in clinical, classroom, simulation labs, doing research or volunteering, thus adding to the strength and vibrancy of our communities and the nursing profession. Our Nursing Simulation Centers at UH Sugar Land Campus and UH Katy Campus have earned the Society for Simulation in Healthcare national accreditation. We are the only college (nursing or otherwise) in the greater Houston area that has achieved this level of accreditation with our state-of-the-art simulation centers.

We welcome nurses who are interested in the of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) to apply for the fall admission cycle. The Gessner College of Nursing invites you to consider this professional level of nursing and we especially welcome our alumni to apply to the DNP program at UH.

Information sessions for all our programs are free and on-line. Register for the one that is right for you!

We know we are facing a nursing shortage and our graduates are now more ready than ever before to work in environments where nurses are incredibly needed, trusted, and ethical.

There is a place for you to belong in this profession, and you can make a difference in the lives of the people who need nursing care.

Welcome to the Cougar Nation!

Your Dean,

Kathryn Tart, EdD, MSN, RN, FNAP
Founding Dean and Professor
Humana Endowed Dean's Chair in Nursing