West Texas A&M University

Our mission is be a student-centered learning community dedicated to developing professional and academic leaders in nursing, and to serve our constituents through educational programs that engage students, provide high quality nursing services, demonstrate evidence-based nursing practice, and produce nursing scholarship.

Mission

As an integral part of its parent institution, the Department of Nursing is committed to serving as the principal academic center for baccalaureate and graduate nursing education for a multi-state region. Our mission is to be a student-centered, learning community dedicated to developing professional and academic leaders in nursing, and to serve our constituents through educational programs that engage students, provide high quality nursing services, demonstrate evidence-based nursing practice, and produce nursing scholarship.

Vision

The West Texas A&M University Department of Nursing envisions a health care system in which all persons receive quality care in an atmosphere of respect for human dignity. Scholarly nursing practice will be integral to such system. The undergraduate and graduate programs will promote the many ways of knowing that contribute to the Art of Nursing.

Philosophy

The faculty of the Department of Nursing believes humans are unique, holistic, and multidimensional beings who are valued in their uniqueness and are deserving of respect and dignity. Human beings have a right to self-determination and to make informed choices. They also have a right to competent advocacy when their abilities for self-determination and choice are impaired.

We believe that health is the dynamic state of interactions among mind, body, and spirit. Health is uniquely experienced by each person and exists in any of many conditions.

We believe that nursing is a practice discipline requiring the scholarly use of scientific, ethical, aesthetic, and personal ways of knowing (the Art of Nursing). Nurses use the many ways of knowing to enable persons to bring body, mind, and spirit into harmonious relationship.

We believe that the environment is the biological, physiological, personal, spiritual, social, cultural, and political context in which persons experience health. The environment is not a separate entity, but an integral component of the human experience.

We believe caring, commitment, honesty, integrity, dependability, respect, responsibility, accountability, and initiative are values, which are central to nursing scholarship. We believe that the teaching and learning of nursing is both an individual and community enterprise. Learners and teachers have role responsibilities, which foster informed participation, open communication, critical thinking, and community building.