Faculty retirements over the next 10 years will adversely impact Virginia's education programs. The average age of nursing faculty in 2002 was 53, while that of the general RN population was about 45 years old. Reports from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) state that faculty from nursing education programs will be retiring in unprecedented numbers in the next 10 years (AACN, 2003; Hodges, 2002).The average age of nursing faculty in Virginia ranges from a low of 45 in Southwest Virginia to a high of 54 in Northern Virginia
[SCHEV Report, 21 January 2004 (DOWNLOAD PDF)]

Nursing schools nationwide continue to struggle to find new faculty to satisfy the rising interest in nursing. As a by product of this struggle job security and opportunities for nursing educators abound, including many opportunities for nurses to maintain dual roles as educators and direct patient care providers.

According to a Special Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions released by AACN in July 2004, a total of 717 faculty vacancies were identified at 395 nursing schools with Baccalaureate and/or graduate programs across the country (68.6% response rate). Besides the vacancies, schools cited the need to create an additional 122 faculty positions to accommodate student demand. The data show a national nurse faculty vacancy rate of 8.1% which translates into approximately 2.9 faculty vacancies per school. Most of the vacancies (54.3%) were faculty positions requiring a doctoral degree.