UT Tyler's post-master's DNP: the courses, the hours and the practice site you choose
UT Tyler's Doctor of Nursing Practice for nurses who already hold a master's degree is 39 credits online, with 1,000 practice hours logged in Exxat and a DNP Project that runs through every course. The program lets you do the practice work in a location of your choice, so the site, the industry mentor and the affiliation agreement start with you. Our placement desk finds a site and mentor that fit your project and gets their details ready early.
Plan your DNP practice site
Tell us your project idea, your start term and where you live. A placement advisor replies with a plan for your site and industry mentor.
The program at a glance
UT Tyler's post-master's Doctor of Nursing Practice is 39 credits, spread over 13 three-credit courses that all feed one DNP Project. The 2026-27 catalog calls it an online degree, then adds that students may need to be present for some activities, naming clinical work, on-campus intensives and the DNP Project presentation. UT Tyler's online-program site describes the courses as 100% online, so read that as online coursework and keep a few trips to Tyler in your plans.
New students begin in January, May or August. The catalog's part-time outline fits the courses into two years of six semesters, while the program page tells part-time students they can finish in three years. Both describe part-time study; the version that governs you is the degree plan you and your advisor sign before the end of your first semester.
The DNP catalog page also sets a six-year maximum for finishing. UT Tyler's general graduate policy gives doctoral students nine years, which is a conflict between two official sources. Plan to the program's six, and see grades and time limits for how an approved leave of absence stops the clock.
Your DNP Project and its two mentors
The DNP Project is required and, in the catalog's words, embedded throughout the curriculum, so each course moves it forward instead of leaving it for the last term. It closes in NURS 7377 DNP Scholarly Synthesis. School of Nursing doctoral policy 6.5 pairs every student with two mentors: a faculty mentor from UT Tyler and an industry mentor from the practice world.
UT Tyler's online-program preceptor page sets the standard for DNP mentors. Its preferred mentor holds a PhD or DNP and has five years in leadership. It also accepts a mentor who holds an MSN or another master's degree and has at least ten years of experience in a leadership role.
In practice, the industry mentor shapes whether a project can be done at all. A strong mentor works inside the organization where your practice problem lives, can open doors to the data and teams the project needs, and has room for a commitment that spans several semesters. Choosing the mentor and the site together, before your first practice-hour course, saves a restart halfway through.
A practice site of your choice, with an agreement first
UT Tyler's program page tells DNP students to complete the clinical experience in a location they choose. That choice comes with a firm order of events. A Fall 2026 DNP syllabus bars practice hours at any site, your own employer included, until an affiliation agreement is fully executed, and it puts you in charge of starting that process with your DNP faculty and the clinical placement coordinator well before site work begins.
Facility agreements are signed on paper and can move slowly at large health systems; how UT Tyler's affiliation agreements work walks through the stages. The hours themselves go into Exxat, and the rules for logging them and for crediting approved post-baccalaureate hours are covered on the DNP practice hours page.
Syllabi also require an active Exxat subscription in every clinical course, so set that up before your first practice-hour course opens in Canvas.
The step students skip: assuming their own hospital counts automatically. Even where you already work, no DNP practice hour counts until the affiliation agreement for that site is fully signed.
Course sequence and practice hours
Practice hours per course come from UT Tyler's 2026 syllabi, and the order follows the catalog's part-time outline. Two details disagree between sources. Publishing Scholarly Papers is NURS 6343 in the catalog but NURS 7343 in the Fall 2026 syllabus and the course rotation, and NURS 7371 listed 50 practice hours in Summer 2026 but 100 in Fall 2026.
| Course | Title | Practice hours | Catalog term |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 7301 | Introduction to DNP Role and Culture | 50 | Year 1, semester 1 |
NURS 7302 | Foundations of Evidence-based Practice | 50 | Year 1, semester 1 |
NURS 7314 | Practice Change for DNP Leaders | 50 | Year 1, semester 2 |
NURS 7315 | Evidence-based Practice 1 | 100 | Year 1, semester 2 |
NURS 7303 | Healthcare Informatics | 50 | Year 1, semester 3 |
NURS 7317 | Evidence-based Practice II | 100 | Year 1, semester 3 |
NURS 7371 | Organizational and Systems Leadership | 100 (50 in Summer 2026) | Year 2, semester 1 |
NURS 7375 | Healthcare Quality & Safety | 100 | Year 2, semester 1 |
NURS 7331 | Health Policy & Advocacy | 100 | Year 2, semester 2 |
NURS 7358 | Population Health | 50 | Year 2, semester 2 |
NURS 7373 | Financial & Business Management | 50 | Year 2, semester 2 |
NURS 6343 or NURS 7343 | Publishing Scholarly Papers | 100 | Year 2, semester 3 |
NURS 7377 | DNP Scholarly Synthesis | 100 | Final semester |
| Total | 13 courses, 39 credits | 1,000 |
Every course carries three credits, and the syllabus hours add up to the 1,000 that UT Tyler requires across the program. Heavier courses such as NURS 7315 and NURS 7317 are where a ready site and mentor matter most.
Studying from outside Texas
UT Tyler's Texas residence rule is written for APRN clinical hours in its nurse practitioner tracks. UT Tyler's own state disclosures group the post-master's DNP with its online programs that accept students from other states, with conditions.
The conditions are practical. The catalog asks for an unencumbered RN license in the state or states where your practicum will occur, and the program page warns applicants from other states that reciprocity arrangements may have a bearing on clinical hours. UT Tyler's professional licensure chart lists the Doctor of Nursing Practice as meeting requirements in Texas and not in Georgia, with other states undetermined.
If you live outside Texas, read UT Tyler's state authorization rules before you commit to a site, and raise your state with the program early. A site across a state line brings its own licensing questions, and it is far easier to settle them before an agreement is drafted than after.
How our placement desk supports UT Tyler DNP students
Your faculty mentor guides the scholarship. The practice side of a DNP depends on people outside UT Tyler, and that is where our placement desk works, thoroughly and early. See how we work for the full process.
- Start from your project questionTell us the practice problem you want to study and where you live. Your placement advisor maps the kinds of organizations where that problem, its data and its decision-makers actually sit.
- Find the site and the industry mentorWe locate a leader who meets UT Tyler's mentor standard, a doctorate with five years in leadership or a master's with ten, and who has room for a project that runs several semesters.
- Prepare the agreement details earlyWe collect the facility and mentor information your DNP faculty and the clinical placement coordinator need to start the affiliation agreement, a full term ahead where possible.
- Stay on callIf your mentor changes roles or the site pulls back, we search for a replacement that keeps your project intact and tell you what new paperwork the change triggers.
Start with the form below and name your intended start term.
Questions UT Tyler students ask
Can I start UT Tyler's DNP in the summer?
Yes. The program admits students in January, May and August, and a May start lines up with the School of Nursing's summer term, which runs May 10 to August 14 in 2027. Summer is a shorter term than fall or spring, so ask your advisor which courses run in it and whether your first practice hours fall there. That tells you how soon your site and mentor need to be in place.
Do I need a different site for each DNP course?
Nothing UT Tyler publishes requires a new site for every course. The 1,000 hours are spread across all 13 courses, and a project anchored at one organization keeps the paperwork simple. What the rules do require is a fully executed affiliation agreement for every site where you log hours, so adding a second site later means a second agreement and more lead time.
What happens if my DNP industry mentor leaves their job?
Tell your DNP faculty right away. A new mentor has to meet the same leadership standard, and if the change also moves you to a different organization, that site needs its own affiliation agreement before hours count there. Your placement advisor looks first for a replacement inside the same organization, which usually keeps your project and its data access intact.
Is UT Tyler's DNP program accredited?
UT Tyler states that its Doctor of Nursing Practice program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. CCNE's own directory lists the DNP's initial accreditation in November 2017 and a current term running through June 30, 2033, with the next on-site visit in Fall 2032. The accreditation page explains what this means for your degree.
Will my master's-level clinical hours count toward the DNP?
Possibly, in part. UT Tyler can credit approved post-baccalaureate hours toward the practice-hour requirement, with a cap in each course, and your DNP faculty decide what is approved. Gather your master's program documentation early, since it takes time to request. The DNP practice hours page covers how the credit works and how it shows up in Exxat.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UT Tyler's own catalog, syllabi, program pages and clinical policies, and Texas rules. Your course, your program coordinator and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UT Tyler asks you to choose your clinical site. We find it.
Tell us your UT Tyler track, where in Texas you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and gather everything your Self-Placement Request needs, so faculty can approve it before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5453, adult and geriatric care forNURS 5455, psychiatric care forNURS 5367 - Texas-licensed preceptors who clear UT Tyler's supervisor, relative and site rules
- Anywhere in Texas, from the Piney Woods to the Valley
Start your placement plan
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