Dean's message

Happy New Year from the College of Nursing! With the arrival of the new year comes great news about our online rankings.

U.S. News & World Report released new rankings that place The Ohio State University College of Nursing’s online Master of Science in Nursing degree program as the very best in the nation for 2026.

The #1 ranking for the online master’s in nursing is complemented by top five rankings for two specialization programs. Our Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) specialty ranks #3 overall and #1 among public institutions, and the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) specialty ranks #5 overall and #3 among public institutions.   

This marks the 12th consecutive year in which Ohio State’s online master’s in nursing ranks among the country’s top six of its kind. U.S. News & World Report ranks online master’s programs according to student engagement, faculty credentials and training, services and technologies, student excellence and peer assessment. 

In addition, new national rankings of online bachelor’s programs evaluated key measures such as student engagement, faculty credentials and training, student services and technology and peer assessment. Our online bachelor’s programs—led by our RN to BSN program, comprising the highest enrollment—earned a #4 ranking nationally, improving from #5 last year.

For years, our college has set the standard for excellence in both online and in-person education. This success is driven by the people behind it—our committed faculty and staff, motivated and talented students, accomplished alumni and the donors and friends whose generosity sustains our momentum. We are deeply grateful to each of you for helping make this achievement possible.

Construction of our new first-floor translational biosciences lab began on Jan. 26. This project marks an important step forward in expanding our facilities to better support teaching, learning and research across the college. We look forward to this new space and will provide updates as it nears completion.

Wishing you a healthy, successful start to the year—and thank you for being such an important part of our community.

Many thanks,

Karen M. Rose, PhD, RN, FGSA, FNAP, FAAN
Dean and Professor, College of Nursing
The Ohio State University