Kent State's post-master's DNP: concentrations, credits and the project practicum

Updated September 24, 2026 · Reviewed by the Kent State Preceptor placement team

Kent State's post-master's Doctor of Nursing Practice is fully online, runs about five part-time semesters, and asks for at least 500 practicum hours, all tied to your scholarly project. You choose Executive Nurse or Practice Leadership, and in both the project site and preceptor are yours to secure, with faculty support.

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40credits, or 37 when NURS 70016 is waived

5semesters in the part-time, cohort-based plan

16approved states for the post-master's DNP

Two post-master's concentrations

The 2026-2027 catalog lists three DNP concentrations. Executive Nurse and Practice Leadership take students who already hold a master's degree; the third, Nurse Administration and Executive Leadership, starts from the BSN and is covered in its own guide. Each post-master's concentration adds 6 credits to the shared core.

Kent State's post-master's DNP concentrations
Detail	Executive Nurse	Practice Leadership
Built for	Nurse executives and managers; admission priority for ANCC or AONL nurse executive certification or management experience	Advanced practice nurses and clinical experts
Degree needed to apply	Master's in nursing or a related field	Bachelor's or master's in nursing
Concentration courses	`NURS 70686` Applied Economic and Financial Principles for the Nurse Executive (or `NURS 70089`, taught abroad) and `NURS 70651` Advanced Legal, Regulatory and Policy Considerations	`NURS 70685` Healthcare Finance and Economic Policy (or `NURS 70089`) and `NURS 70650` Organizational Systems
Practicum hours	The three project courses in the core	The three project courses in the core

The kent.edu DNP page still names a Systems Leadership concentration that the current catalog does not list. The catalog is Kent State's document of record, so treat its three names as current and ask the program about anything else.

The core courses and where the project sits

Every concentration shares a 34-credit core. Nine of those credits are the project sequence, and the rest build the methods, leadership and data skills the project draws on.

DNP core courses in the 2026-2027 catalog

NURS 70016 (3 credits), waived when you bring graduate assessment, pharmacology and physiology, which lowers the total from 40 to 37
NURS 70621 D.N.P. Role Development (1)
NURS 70630 Research Methods for EBP and NURS 70635 Application of EBP (3 each)
NURS 70640 Advanced Leadership and NURS 70670 Quality Improvement (3 each)
NURS 70680 Population Health and NURS 70711 Scientific Writing (3 each)
NURS 70750 D.N.P. Data Science for Healthcare Quality (3)
NURS 72692, NURS 72792 and NURS 72892, the three D.N.P. Project courses (3 each)

The project courses carry all of the practicum. Their hours add up to 550 against the catalog's 500-hour floor; the DNP practicum hours guide untangles that figure and the older 525, and the DNP project courses guide covers the proposal, IRB review and defense.

Five semesters with the project from day one

The DNP FAQ describes the post-master's program as five semesters, part time and cohort based, completed in under two years. Your scholarly project begins in semester one and should wrap up in semester five, and a faculty advisor is assigned to you in that first term.

That rhythm leaves little room for a slow site search. Your organization, practice problem and preceptor need to be settled early enough to write a proposal around them, because Project I closes only when the proposal passes. A site that falls through later can mean reworking the proposal for a new setting.

Start terms deserve a check too. Kent State Online lists Spring, Summer and Fall 2026 starts, the catalog gives Fall (March 1) and Spring (October 1) deadlines, and the FAQ describes one fall admission a year. Confirm your cohort's first term with the program before you give a site any dates.

Finding a project site and preceptor

The FAQ makes locating a preceptor primarily your responsibility, with faculty support, and the MSN handbook lists the Director of the DNP Program among those who help as needed. Your DNP Project Chair supervises the hours you spend on the project, and your committee joins your advisor with two doctorally prepared members.

DNP practicum time counts the work of developing, implementing and evaluating the project, so the right site has a real practice problem and a leader willing to host the change. Graduate preceptors at Kent State hold an unrestricted license, bring at least a year in practice and have their employer's approval, and hours count only once the organization is covered by a College of Nursing affiliation agreement.

A few agencies bar students from reaching preceptors directly, and the GSN Canvas course explains how to approach them. The finding your own preceptor page shows how Kent State's help fits around your own search.

Approved states and admission details

The post-master's DNP enrolls in 16 states. Ohio heads the list with its neighbors Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia; the East Coast adds Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida; and Illinois, Mississippi, Montana and Hawaii round it out. It is the only graduate nursing list on Kent State's approved-states page that includes Indiana.

Admission asks for a 3.000 GPA, a statistics course passed with a C or better, an RN license in the state where you will do the practicum, a CV, a 300-word essay, three references and a pre-admission interview. The FAQ adds a GRE and current APRN certification, which the catalog no longer lists, and says the project can be done where you live and hold APRN licensure. Where the two differ, ask the program which applies to your concentration.

Kent State's licensure disclosure table has no DNP row, and SARA leaves nursing boards out of its scope, so a project across a state line may need the host board involved. The clinicals outside Ohio page explains that step.

Grades, the committee and the finish line

Each DNP course requires a B or better. A grade below B must be repeated before any course that depends on it, and a second grade below B may lead to dismissal, so a project course that goes wrong can hold up the rest of the sequence.

To graduate, you defend the scholarly project before your committee and produce a manuscript fit for publication, on top of the practicum-hour minimum. Kent State's student-resources page links no current DNP handbook, which leaves your syllabi, your advisor and the catalog as the working references. What happens after a low mark is set out on the grades and probation page.

The DNP has held CCNE accreditation since February 25, 2013, and the current term runs to December 31, 2028, with the next on-site visit planned for Spring 2028.

Why DNP students choose us

A DNP site is a partner for the better part of two years, not a single rotation. We look for organizations in your community with a practice problem that suits your concentration and a leader ready to back implementation, and we check that fit with the site before you draft a word of the proposal.

Your placement advisor readies the preceptor credentials and organization details that your faculty advisor and project chair will look over, puts the affiliation agreement question on the table from the first conversation, and stays on call through all five semesters. If your site contact leaves partway through, we find someone who can carry the project forward. Share your concentration and cohort term through the contact page.

Questions Kent State students ask

Is Kent State's DNP fully online?

Yes. The catalog lists the DNP as fully online, and the post-master's plan runs about five part-time semesters in a cohort. The practicum is not a screen exercise, though: project hours happen at a practice site near where you live, in one of the 16 states on the post-master's DNP list.

Do I need to be an APRN for Kent State's DNP?

Not on every route. The DNP FAQ still describes the program as APRN-only, but the 2026-2027 catalog opens Executive Nurse to master's graduates in nursing or a related field and asks only for an RN license in the practicum state. Practice Leadership is aimed at advanced practice nurses and clinical experts. Ask the program which rule governs your admission.

Which DNP concentration fits a nurse manager?

Executive Nurse is built for nurse leaders, with finance, legal, regulatory and policy coursework, and applicants who already manage people or hold a nurse executive credential from ANCC or AONL get priority. Practice Leadership suits APRNs and clinical experts. Both share the same core and project courses.

Can my DNP project site be outside Ohio?

According to the FAQ, your project can sit in your home state under your license there, provided the state is among the 16 on the post-master's DNP list. Sites across state lines raise board questions that SARA does not settle, and Kent State files each out-of-state placement with NC-SARA. If you move, tell the Office of Student Services.

When should I start looking for a DNP project site?

Before your first semester if you can. The project starts in semester one, Project I ends with a passed proposal written for a specific site, and a new site may need an affiliation agreement, which the College of Nursing negotiates on a timeline Kent State does not publish.

DNPDNP practicum hoursKent State DNP hours explained: the 500-hour post-master's minimum, 550 in the three project courses, the legacy 525, and what post-BSN students should expect.DNPDNP project coursesKent State's DNP project courses, NURS 72692, 72792 and 72892: proposal, implementation with IRB review, analysis and defense, and the practicum hours in each.BSN to DNPBSN to DNPKent State's BSN-to-DNP: Practice Leadership through an MSN APRN concentration, the NAEL leadership track, the practicums on each and the total-hours question.NAHSLMSN NAHSL and MSN/MBAKent State's online NAHSL MSN and MSN/MBA: 36 or 58 credits, 300 leadership practicum hours, 20 approved states, and when each placement lands in your plan.AgreementsAffiliation agreementsKent State practicum hours count only at sites with a current College of Nursing affiliation agreement. What that means for a new site and how to plan around it.StatesApproved states for online nursingKent State's approved states for online nursing, program by program: AGCNS, PMHNP, WHNP, Nurse Educator, NAHSL, DNP and RN-to-BSN, and what not listed means.

Last checked 2026-09-24

We check these pages against Kent State's own catalog, handbooks and program pages. Your MSN or DNP handbook, your syllabus, your practicum faculty and your concentration coordinator have the final word.

Kent State says the preceptor search is yours. We make it the fastest part of your practicum.

Tell us your Kent State concentration, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare everything your practicum faculty and coordinator review before they approve.

Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for NURS 61292, acute care for NURS 61092, psychiatric care for NURS 61592, women's health for NURS 66192
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