The baccalaureate education conference devoted solely to baccalaureate issues, presented in its inaugural conference in November 1998. AACN Board of Directors and members recommended this conference because of the many issues regarding baccalaureate nursing education, such as the changing curriculum, decreasing enrollments, and nursing education's accountability to the public. AACN will offer this conference to deans, nursing faculty, and employers. The Master's Education Conference examines the role of higher education in preparing nurses for a changing health care and practice environment. Educators are shown how to teach students to market their practice, develop a business plan, and deal with the issues that affect advanced practice nursing.
Educators also learn new strategies and tools to improve advanced practice teaching skills.
The Doctoral Conference provides deans, associate deans, graduate program directors, faculty, and doctoral students with strategies for moving into leadership positions, and advice on how to plan and implement research designs. Through roundtable discussions, participants can share methods for dealing with the unique issues affecting doctoral programs. In workshops at semiannual meetings and at AACN's annual summer seminar, new deans, as well as faculty and administrative staff who aspire to the deanship, become oriented to the dean's role in academic, financial, and student affairs. Presentations in each core area are followed by discussion of specific case studies . New deans also may choose to participate in the Leadership Network component of the series and be matched with an experienced AACN member dean based on similar programs, size, and geographic location.