UT Tyler School of Nursing accreditation and what it means for your license

Nurse anesthesia, the MBA and the newest certificate

Two UT Tyler programs answer to a second accreditor. The DNP-Nurse Anesthesia program, a 36-month in-person track that prepares graduates for both CRNA and AGACNP certification, is reviewed by the COA, and UT Tyler states that its next COA review is scheduled for fall 2030. The coordinated MSN/MBA pairs the nursing master's with an AACSB-accredited MBA.

The AGACNP certificate is the youngest program on the list. It grew out of a Critical Care Pathways program the Legislature funded at the School of Nursing in 2023, and it opened in fall 2024, two years after CCNE's October 2022 action. Because UT Tyler's statement covers the certificate program as a whole, ask your program coordinator for written confirmation if an employer or hospital wants the AGACNP track named specifically.

One more distinction matters for NP students: CCNE accredits the School's programs, while the Texas Board of Nursing licenses the graduates. The next two sections take the Board's side.

From UT Tyler graduate to Texas APRN license

The Board's page on APRN licensure with optional prescriptive authority lists what you bring to the application. Here it is in the order a UT Tyler NP graduate meets it.

1. An RN license the Board acceptsEither a Texas RN license or a compact RN license carrying the privilege to practice in Texas. UT Tyler asks more at the door: its current catalog wants a Texas license from anyone entering an APRN track. See RN license rules by program.
2. A program that meets rule 221.3Separate courses in advanced physical assessment with a clinical component, pathophysiology, pharmacotherapeutics and role preparation, a supervised practicum and, for anyone who completed a program from 2003 onward, a minimum of 500 clinical hours per role and population focus that are not counted twice elsewhere.
3. National certification that matches your trainingThe certification must fit the role and population focus of your program. UT Tyler's pages name the AANPCB for the FNP and the ANCC PMHNP-BC for the PMHNP; the certification exam guide covers both.
4. Recent practice and continuing educationProof of recent activity: 400 practice hours plus 20 continuing education contact hours inside the last two years, or a program you completed inside that same two-year window. A new graduate who applies inside two years meets both through the second route.

Why accreditation comes up when a clinic says yes

Hospitals check the school before they take the student. Baylor Scott & White's education page says an affiliation agreement must be in place and the school must be certified by the State of Texas. CHRISTUS Health's clinical education page requires a written, signed Clinical Education Affiliation Agreement for every academic affiliation. UTHealth Houston's placement page says Memorial Hermann signs agreements only with fully accredited programs.

UT Tyler's standing clears that first question. The slower part is the paperwork that follows, because the School sets up each facility's affiliation agreement on paper before any hours count, and affiliation agreements at UT Tyler explains the timeline.

That is where a complete, early request pays off. When we line up your preceptor, we give the site's student coordinator what it asks about the school at first contact, so the facility's checks and UT Tyler's agreement can start well before the semester. Share your program and county on the placement request form.