Nursing schools need faculty badly. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing reports that schools turned away 92,672 qualified applications in 2025, and that its October 2025 survey found 1,588 full-time faculty vacancies, a national vacancy rate of 7.2% (AACN Nursing Faculty Shortage Fact Sheet).
So why does it feel so hard to get in? Because the openings and the applicants don't line up. Most posted full-time jobs want a doctorate and teaching experience. Most nurses who want to teach have clinical expertise, a master's or part of one, and no classroom record. This guide is about closing that gap.
What you need on paper
An unencumbered RN license in the state where the program operates.
A graduate degree, for most roles. State boards of nursing set the floor, and the rules differ by state and by program type. Texas is a typical example: faculty in professional nursing programs must hold a current Texas RN license or privilege to practice and a master's or doctoral degree, preferably in nursing. A graduate degree in another field counts only alongside a BSN and graduate hours in nursing, 6 for associate degree and diploma programs and 12 for baccalaureate programs (22 Tex. Admin. Code § 215.7).
A doctorate, for university tenure-track jobs. In AACN's survey, 80.9% of full-time vacancies required or preferred one. Community colleges and clinical-track or instructor-rank positions are far more open to master's-prepared nurses.
Recent clinical experience in what you'll teach. Programs hire a critical care nurse to teach critical care.
If you're still in a master's program, don't wait. Some states let programs bring you on before you finish. In Texas, a dean can waive the degree requirement for up to a year for a nurse who holds a BSN, has practiced in the subject area for two of the last four years, and has completed at least half of a master's in nursing, provided the program itself meets certain conditions. Some states also allow clinical teaching assistants or preceptors with a BSN who work under a faculty member. Look up the faculty section of your own board's education rules.
The usual way in: adjunct clinical instructor
Almost everyone starts part time. Adjunct clinical instructors take a group of students to a unit one or two days a week for a term. Programs need them every semester, often on short notice, and the bar is clinical competence plus the minimum degree.
It's also the best audition there is. Full-time openings are frequently filled by adjuncts the faculty already know. A term or two gives you:
- A teaching record and someone who can speak to it.
- Experience with the school's LMS, evaluation tools and student issues.
- A realistic view of the job before you leave a clinical position for it.
How to find these jobs. Many are never widely advertised.
- Check the human resources pages of every nursing program within driving distance, including community colleges, and look for "adjunct pool" or "part-time clinical faculty" postings that stay open year-round.
- Email the program director or the clinical coordinator directly, with your specialty, your degree status and the days you're available. A specific offer ("I can take a Tuesday med-surg group in spring") gets answers.
- Tell the instructors who bring students to your unit that you're interested. They know before anyone when a section needs covering.
- Search HigherEdJobs, The Chronicle of Higher Education jobs board and the AACN Career Center for full-time roles.
Build teaching experience where you already work
Hiring committees want evidence you can teach, and you can start collecting it now:
- Precept students and new graduates, and keep count of how many.
- Teach unit in-services, skills days and annual competencies.
- Help in the simulation lab, or write and run a scenario for your unit.
- Present a poster or a short talk at a local or state conference.
- Guest lecture in a course on your specialty. Faculty are glad to have a current clinician for an hour.
- Take a graduate course in curriculum, assessment or teaching methods, even if your degree has a different focus.
Keep a simple log with dates, audience, topic and any evaluations. That log becomes your teaching portfolio.
Credentials that help
The National League for Nursing offers the main teaching certifications.
CNE (Certified Nurse Educator). You're eligible with a master's or doctorate in nursing that emphasized nursing education, or one plus a post-master's certificate in nursing education, or one plus nine or more graduate credits in education courses. If your graduate degree had a different emphasis, you qualify with two or more years of employment in a nursing program at an academic institution within the past five years (NLN CNE eligibility).
CNE novice. This one is for educators in their first three years of practice as an academic nurse educator. It requires a current RN license and graduate preparation in nursing education, which can be a degree with that emphasis, a certificate, or nine graduate credits in education courses (NLN CNE novice eligibility).
Neither is required to be hired. Both signal that you've studied teaching, not only nursing. NLN also certifies academic clinical nurse educators, which fits people who teach mainly in the clinical setting.
What to put in the application
A CV, not a resume. Academic CVs are longer and ordered differently: education, licensure and certification, teaching experience, clinical experience, presentations and publications, service.
A teaching philosophy. One page on how you think students learn and what you do about it, with a real example. "I ask students to tell me what they expect to find before they walk into the room" says more than a paragraph about being student-centered.
A cover letter that names courses. Read the program's curriculum and say which courses you could teach next term.
References who have seen you teach. A manager who watched you run skills day beats a physician who likes working with you.
Expect the interview to include a teaching demonstration: ten to twenty minutes on a topic they choose or you do. Teach one idea well, ask the audience a question early, and finish on time. Committees watch how you handle a wrong answer more than how much content you cover.
The honest part: pay and workload
Teaching usually pays less than advanced clinical practice, and you should know that going in. AACN's fact sheet lists an average annual salary of $82,762 for a master's-prepared professor in schools of nursing, against a median of $134,920 across advanced practice registered nurse roles. Adjunct pay is lower still and comes without benefits at most schools.
The first year is also heavier than it looks. Each new course means building lectures, exams and assignments from little or nothing, and nobody teaches you how to write a good exam question or read the item analysis afterwards. Ask in the interview what orientation and mentoring new faculty get, and whether you'd inherit course materials.
There is some help with the cost of getting qualified. Under the federal Nurse Faculty Loan Program, graduates can have up to 85 percent of the loan, including interest, canceled in exchange for working full time as nurse faculty for up to four years at an accredited school of nursing. The money goes to schools, which run the loan programs, so ask the financial aid office of your graduate program whether it participates (HRSA Nurse Faculty Loan Program). If you work for a public or nonprofit school, ask about Public Service Loan Forgiveness as well.
A twelve-month plan
| When |
What to do |
| Months 1 to 2 |
Read your state board's faculty rule. List every program in driving distance and who directs it. Start your teaching log. |
| Months 2 to 4 |
Enroll in or continue graduate study. Take one course in teaching or assessment. Precept and teach on your unit. |
| Months 3 to 5 |
Write your CV and teaching philosophy. Email directors and clinical coordinators about adjunct work for the next term. |
| Months 6 to 10 |
Teach a clinical group. Ask a full-time faculty member to observe you and give feedback. Offer one guest lecture. |
| Months 10 to 12 |
Ask for a second term or a lab or classroom assignment. Watch for full-time postings and tell the director you're interested. |
Once you're in
Your first exam will teach you as much as it teaches your students. When the results come back, some questions will have been missed by your strongest students, and you won't know whether the problem is the question or the teaching. That is what item analysis is for, and most new faculty are never shown how to read it.
MapMyExam turns the item-analysis export from your testing software into a plain-language report: which questions to fix first, why, and a suggested rewrite. Your first exam is free.
Related: Why does my exam item have a negative point-biserial?