Traversing academic rank promotion for nurse practitioner faculty

The relatively rapid increase of nurse practitioner (NP) programs across the United States has necessitated schools and colleges of nursing to hire and support NP faculty through the promotion process to sustain their programs. Nurse practitioner faculty engaged in clinical practice often face barriers in obtaining rank promotion. The purpose of this article was to provide NP faculty an evidence-based pathway to support academic rank promotion. An additional aim was to recognize implicit biases and barriers, while offering guidance for overcoming challenges. Using Boyer (1990) and American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2018) as a foundation, this article outlines a pathway to synergistically highlight and weave clinical practice experiences within academic expectations of promotion. The categories of academic rank promotion identified and highlighted within this article include scholarship, teaching, practice, and service. The Stager & Douglass Pathway to Preparation for Traversing Academic Rank for Clinical Faculty provides steps for a well-developed plan and comprehensive dossier in supporting successful promotion. These steps include understanding institutional promotional guidelines, developing focused priorities, defining the clinical practice role in the progression of promotion, partnering with a mentor, gathering supportive materials early, and developing a comprehensive dossier, leading to a successful academic rank promotion process. Preparing the dossier early leverages time for the NP faculty to strategize with academic leaders and colleague mentors to develop focused priorities. In addition, identified biases and barriers may be mitigated to support successful academic rank promotion.