Quick Highlights
A-State’s online DNP – Leadership program prepares nurses for administrative and executive roles through healthcare law, finance and quality improvement courses, while the online DNP – Education program equips nurses for faculty and educator roles. The right choice depends on whether your current work points toward running an organization or teaching the next generation of nurses.
Nurses considering a DNP often assume there’s a single standard path, but Arkansas State University (A-State) offers two distinct tracks that lead to different careers. A-State’s online DNP – Leadership program prepares nurses for administrative and executive roles, while the online DNP – Education program prepares nurses for faculty, clinical educator and academic leadership positions. Because the concentration coursework differs significantly, switching tracks later may require retaking concentration-specific courses.
What Each Track Focuses On
The DNP – Leadership track adds three courses in addition to the shared DNP core: Leadership in Health Professions, Healthcare Law and Quality Improvement, and Budgeting and Financial Management. The DNP – Education concentration swaps in three different courses instead: Measurement and Evaluation in Health Sciences, Curriculum Development in the Health Professions, and Teaching in Advanced Nursing Roles. The core curriculum for both tracks includes Healthcare Finance in Advanced Nursing and Healthcare Informatics in Advanced Nursing, so those subjects aren’t what separates the two paths.
That split exists because health systems and nursing schools need different things from a DNP-prepared nurse: administrators who can run a department and faculty who can teach the next generation of nurses. The latter need is real: A-State has written directly about the shortage of qualified nurse educators in The Nursing Faculty Shortage Crisis, and the Education concentration helps to address it.
Which Track Leads to Which Roles
The Leadership track routes toward administrator, director, vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer (CNO) roles. The Education track routes toward nursing faculty positions at colleges and universities, staff development and clinical education roles within health systems and academic program leadership, such as a nursing department chair.
| Factor | DNP – Leadership | DNP – Education |
|---|---|---|
| Core concentration | Healthcare law, finance, quality improvement | Curriculum design, instructional methods, program evaluation |
| Capstone project | Workplace-based quality improvement or policy project | Workplace-based quality improvement or policy project |
| Typical roles | Director, vice president of nursing, chief nursing officer | Nursing faculty, clinical educator, academic program leadership |
| Credits / tuition (2026) | 36 credits / $20,160 | 36-39 credits / $20,160-$21,840* |
*Education-track totals vary between 36 and 39 credits depending on how many MSN clinical hours already count toward the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) 1,000-hour practice requirement; confirm your specific total with an A-State student engagement specialist.
The role differences in the table aren’t just titles; they reflect two different scopes of responsibility. A DNP – Leadership graduate is trained to redesign how a unit or organization delivers care, the kind of work covered in A-State’s own piece on new care delivery models. A DNP – Education graduate is trained to redesign how nurses are taught.
Which Should You Choose If You’re Unsure?
Look at your current role, not the title you want next. Work that already leans toward budgets, staffing and operations points to Leadership, while work that leans toward teaching, precepting or curriculum points to Education.
- Currently a bedside RN or charge nurse who enjoys precepting and onboarding new staff: The Education track’s focus on instructional methods will likely feel like a natural extension of what you already do well.
- Currently a nurse manager, director or administrator focused on budgets, staffing and outcomes: The Leadership track builds directly on that work.
- Currently nursing faculty or clinical education staff: The Education track is the clear match, and A-State’s dedicated online DNP – Education program page covers admission requirements and coursework in full detail.
Most nurses recognize themselves clearly in one of these three descriptions before finishing the list, which is usually the clearest signal of which track fits. If your work doesn’t point clearly either way yet, weigh it against the concentration courses above and pick whichever set would make your current job easier to do well.
Explore A-State’s online DNP Leadership program to build on administrative experience, or the online DNP Education program to build toward a faculty role.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the two tracks share any coursework, or is the entire 36 credits track-specific?
They share the same DNP foundation, MSN prerequisite and accreditation, but the credit count isn’t always identical: the online DNP – Leadership program runs a flat 36 credits, while the online DNP –Education program can run 36 to 39 depending on how many MSN clinical hours you’re bringing in toward the required 1,000 practice hours. Either way, the concentration coursework itself doesn’t overlap. A Leadership track student never takes the Education track’s curriculum-design courses and vice versa, so someone weighing both should assume the full concentration portion is track-specific rather than expecting shared electives to ease a later switch.
Could someone complete the Leadership track and still end up teaching part-time as adjunct faculty later?
Yes, and that happens more often than the reverse. Experienced administrators and directors frequently teach as adjunct faculty in nursing administration courses without ever completing the Education track, since many schools value that real operational experience over a formal teaching credential for a single course. The Education track becomes more essential for someone pursuing a full-time, tenure-track faculty role rather than an adjunct role layered onto an administrative career.
I like both budgets and teaching equally. Is there a way to keep both options open?
Not within this single-track structure. Since the concentration coursework is track-specific rather than shared, committing to one track means the other becomes a separate, later credential rather than a combined path. A nurse genuinely torn between both might choose based on which skill the current job already rewards, since that experience will carry the most weight in whichever direction they pursue afterward.
Can I switch tracks after starting the program?
Concentration coursework differs enough between tracks that switching typically means retaking concentration-specific courses. Confirm current transfer policy directly with A-State before assuming credits carry over.
Where can I learn more about the Education track specifically?
See A-State’s online DNP – Education program page for full admission requirements, coursework and career outcomes.