Rounds with Leadership: Monitoring Trends in Academic Nursing

Using data is essential to recognizing today’s trends and anticipating what comes tomorrow. As nurse educators, we understand the importance of using credible data to establish baselines, inform evidence-based decisions, and assess learning outcomes. Earlier this month, AACN released the results of its 2024-2025 annual survey of baccalaureate and higher degree programs, which included the latest data on the nursing student population as well as trends in enrollment and graduations. In this month’s column, we focus on AACN’s work to collect and disseminate data on nursing faculty and deans to further understand the landscape of academic nursing.

Now in its 46^th year of publication, AACN’s report on Salaries of Instructional and Administrative Nursing Faculty in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs is the nation’s most comprehensive source of salary and demographic data on faculty from undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. This benchmarking resource presents comparison salary data on an academic and a calendar year basis for faculty rank, degree, and institutional type. The report facilitates comparison using numerous variables, including region, parent institution (university or college), tenure status, teaching responsibility, and types of nursing programs offered, among others.

With data collected from 890 nursing schools (82.5% response rate), AACN’s latest faculty survey found the following:

• Schools of nursing employ 53,701 faculty, including 22,626 full-time and 31,075 part-time nurse educators.
• Average faculty age is 60.1 for professors, 55.1 for associate professors, 49 for assistant professor, and 49.1 for instructors.
• More than 60% of faculty are doctorally prepared, including 28.8% with research-focused doctorates (PhD, EdD, DNS) and 32.2% with practice doctorates (DNP).
• 22.2% of faculty across roles are from underrepresented minority groups, 8.5% are male.
• Average salaries for doctorally prepared faculty are $155,312 for professors, $123,379 for associate professors, $108,278 for assistant professors, and $97,418 for instructors. Across the same four roles, master’s prepared faculty earn on average $104,520, $93,437, $87,772, and $87,587, respectively.

In terms of chief academic administrators (deans, directors, chairs, etc.), AACN has compiled Salaries of Deans in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing for nearly 50 years. This report presents salary data on a calendar year basis by numerous dean characteristics, including title, highest earned degree, academic rank, tenure status, and years in current deanship. Salaries also are presented by geographic region, institutional control, parent institution (university or college), academic health center affiliation, types of nursing programs offered, Carnegie Classification, and number of full-time faculty.

Highlights of the 2024-2025 deans’ survey (88.3% response rate), include:

• 523 deans (71%) are in their first deanship, with 223 serving in the role for 2 years or less.
• While the average age of deans has been decreasing slowly over the past 10 years, the survey found a slight increase last year from 57.5 to 57.8 years of age.
• 65.5% of deans were prepared in research-focused doctoral programs (PhD, EdD, DNS) and 28.8% in DNP programs; 5.4% of deans are master’s prepared.  
• Minority representation among deans showed no growth last year with 18.5% coming from diverse racial/ethnic groups. The number of male deans increased from 7.1% to 7.5%.
• Average calendar year salaries are $189,834 for member deans and $117,191 for nonmember deans, representing an increase of 10% for members and 5.9%  for nonmembers.

Building on the information featured in our annual survey reports, AACN offers two ways to connect researchers, educators, and other interested parties with this data, including:

• Customized Data Reports tailored to meet institutional benchmarking and research needs. Reports can be produced using selected data across hundreds of variables, enabling comparisons on the national, state, and local levels. Custom reports are used by faculty, deans, scientists, consultants, and others to compare nursing programs, support research studies, assess market needs, and inform new initiatives.
• Access to unique and comprehensive Datasets to pursue scholarly inquiries and inform decision-making. Researchers may request access to datasets useful in exploring longitudinal trends in nursing school enrollment or graduations, factors impacting faculty retention, nursing workforce trends, and advancing scholarship. 

For those interested in learning more, AACN offers sample custom reports, case studies, and  Frequently Asked Questions to showcase how to leverage our data for maximum impact.  We encourage you to find out more about our institutional data and research services by visiting the AACN's Data Reports and Services webpage and/or seek staff guidance by contacting datarequest@aacnnursing.org.