This program educates BSN-prepared nurse leaders to move health care forward. If you’re ready to learn how to lead decision-making in health care using data to drive actions, then you are ready to earn your Master of Science in Nursing at the University of Michigan.
Advance your career with the Michigan Difference.
Program Highlights
Who Is This Program For?
This program was designed for action-oriented, data-driven nurse leaders who want to tackle detailed, analytical decision-making and advance into leadership roles. If you want to work on creating a long-term, sustainable impact in health care at the team, system and national policy levels – this program is for you. Our online MSN program opens up new opportunities for nurses whose schedules and personal demands prevent them from attending a traditional brick-and-mortar program.
Key Dates and Deadlines
Fall 2022
- June 1, 2022
- Final application deadline
- August 29, 2022
- Classes Start
Course Descriptions
Applied Biostatistics for Clinical Practice
Foundations of Leadership
Foundations in Innovation and Implementation in Health and Health Care
Foundations of Quality Science and Performance Analytics
Strategic Resources and Health Care Operations Leadership
Foundations of Health Informatics
Decision Science for Complex Health Systems
Sociotechnical Approaches in Practice
Evaluation in Health Care Systems
Electives
Students are required to complete 6 credits of elective courses based on your area of interest. Dive deeper into a leadership, analytics or innovation focused course offered through the University of Michigan School of Nursing or explore courses offered through other University of Michigan schools and colleges such as business leadership, global health or policy analysis.
Career Paths for Grads
This MSN program prepares students for:

Leadership Roles
- Coordinator
- Educator
- Manager
- Supervisor
- Specialist
- Director

Informatics Roles
- Informatics Leader
- Specialist
- Project Director
- Consultant

Roles Across the Care Continuum
- Traditional acute care roles
- Nontraditional industry roles
- Care management, case management
- Quality & safety, risk management
- Populations and practice focus
- Health policy & advocacy
Concentrations and Certificates
Global Health Concentration
The Global Health Concentration (GHC) is designed to provide students with coursework and experience to enhance their global clinical and scholarly work. The concentration emphasizes an understanding of evidence-based practice, policy, and leadership related to global health. Students in any master’s or DNP program are eligible to add the GHC to their degree.
Occupational Health Nursing Concentration
Occupational health nurses help to maximize workers’ health and productivity and decrease illnesses and injuries while controlling costs. Occupational health nurses are employed by businesses, government agencies, hospitals, clinics, their own businesses as well as colleges and universities. This concentration is offered to students in the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner MSN or Post-Baccalaureate DNP, Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner MSN or Post-Baccalaureate DNP, and Leadership, Analytics and Innovation MSN programs.
Certificate in Health Informatics
Both nurses and non-nurses can earn a U-M School of Nursing Certificate in Health Informatics by completing 16 credits in a web-blended curriculum, which prepares students to sit for a variety of informatics certification exams. This certificate is for graduate students.
Certificate in Nursing Education
This certificate is designed for individuals who seek to enhance their teaching skills and techniques related to the field of nursing. The certificate in nursing education is only available to those currently in our MSN, DNP, or PhD programs at the U-M School of Nursing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have a question? Check for an answer below.
All core/foundational courses for this degree will take place online. For students living nearby, elective courses may be taken on campus
Students will participate in an initial 2-day on-campus orientation at the start of their program, allowing them to start the program with personal connections. Once annually, an on-campus 4-day intensive will be held, typically in May, beginning on a Tuesday and ending on a Friday. During this time, students have the opportunity to meet their classmates and their faculty as well as to participate in in-person, activity-based learning that synthesizes their online content.
Digital tools will be provided to facilitate connections between students and their faculty and classmates, including the availability of virtual office hours. An annual on-campus intensive will provide the opportunity for students to interact with both classmates and faculty in person. Online students also become a part of the U-M community, just as traditional on-the-ground students would.
Immersions are a critical element of learning in the Leadership, Analytics and Innovation MSN, providing hands-on job training. Our faculty works closely with students to identify immersion placements. Immersion placements are with preceptors and mentors who have practice/content experience in the student’s areas of interest.
Immersions are based on individual interests and can include executive/senior leaders as well as nontraditional industry leaders. This means that there is a huge range of possibilities that can be taken as immersions – this is a critical aspect of customizing our program to fit student needs.
Immersions serve as an opportunity for students to explore new paths and career trajectories. Students will declare areas of interest early in their program and electives/immersion will be available to augment and integrate their course competencies with experiential learning.
Students may be eligible to transfer up to 6 master’s-level credits.
