Our School

Welcome to the UCI Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing.  We’re an energetic, diverse and inclusive community that delivers the highest standards of care to meet the needs of individuals and communities, with a focus on minoritized people.  This has been a core commitment throughout our history, locally and globally.  While we are a small school, we’re well versed in the necessity of using our strengths strategically to maximize the impact of our research and teaching.  

We believe that what differentiates us from other schools of nursing is our approach to education, research and practice which strives for the dynamic intersection of humanity and data.  That “sweet spot” represents the best of nursing because it allows for human connection and compassion, armed with the best knowledge, to provide the best and trusted care. I encourage you to learn more about the important work and impact of our distinguished faculty, amazing students and impressive alumni who seek to work in that intersection each and every day.

Today, nursing is at an exciting tipping point – the challenges of an uncertain world and a quickly changing healthcare landscape have also presented opportunities for nursing to expand its leadership, breadth and impact. In order for schools of nursing to continue to provide the skills and knowledge needed to deliver the highest quality of care, they must also address individual and structural inequities and develop nursing champions committed to social justice and antiracism – key ingredients to a healthy society.  You can learn more about our vision and priorities for the future in our strategic plan which reflects our school’s confidence, power and determination to amplify the impact of nursing on health with Humanity in Mind.

Mark Lazenby, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean and Professor

Meet the Dean
Our Mission
At the UCI Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, we dedicate ourselves to the education of nursing professionals who will improve patient care and promote population health, locally and globally. We strive to produce leaders in research, education, and clinical practice who will champion collaborative, compassionate, and interdisciplinary evidence-based practice.
Stephanie Au, DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C Assistant Clinical Professor teaching a class.
Tiffany K. Nielsen, DNP, APRN, FNP-C Co-Director, DNP Program and Assistant Clinical Professor instructing a class. Pointing at diagram on wall.
Excellence in Scholarship. Innovation in Practice.
Our faculty, with rich and diverse backgrounds, interests, and areas of expertise unite in bringing their latest discoveries and translational procedures into the classroom. In research, the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing has received over $17 million in research funding that contribute to the improvement of health and health care in areas such as oncology, HIV/AIDS, pediatrics, self-care, mental health, women’s health, clinical policy, and nursing education. In clinical care and through the only UC School of Nursing Faculty Practice, our faculty leads the evolution of inter-professionalism and evidence-based practice.
A Focus on Community Health
Compassion is a part of who we are and what we do. We weave community health into our curriculum to instill the responsibility of the nursing profession in our students. We partner with local schools and community groups not only to improve population health, but to give our students the opportunity to learn from and build relationships with the people that they will one day serve through their practice and research.

Our faculty and students spend over 10,000 hours a year working with local communities to provide healthcare to vulnerable populations like under-served schools, the homeless population, the older adult community, and those with mental health disorders.
About Our Community Impact
Assistant Clinical Professor Vanessa Rodriguez FNP-C with a patient at the FQHC
Angela Jun, DNP, FNP-BC, ACHPN Associate Clinical Professor working at her desk with framed degrees on wall behind her.
A Vision with Humanity in Mind
At the UCI Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, we dedicate ourselves to the education of nursing professionals who will improve patient care and promote population health, locally and globally. We strive to produce leaders in research, education, and clinical practice who will champion collaborative, compassionate, and interdisciplinary evidence-based practice.
Our Strategic Plan
A World-Class UC Education
The University of California is the only world-class public research university for, by, and of California. For over 150 years, UC has expanded the horizons of what we know about ourselves and our world.

UC Irvine was founded in 1965 and is one of the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system. It has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, leadership, and character development. It is one of only 66 members of the prestigious Association of American Universities who lead innovation, scholarship, and solutions that contribute to scientific progress, economic development, security, and well-being. UC Irvine is a driving force for the investigation, discovery, and dissemination of knowledge that serves and improves our local, national and global communities.

UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is ranked by Money magazine as one of the “best colleges in the U.S.”
Two graduating DNP students in their regalia.

Land Acknowledgement

The UCI Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing and the UC Irvine campus are located on the homelands of the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples who, in the face of ongoing settler colonialism, continue to claim their place and act as stewards of their ancestral lands as they have for the past 8,000 years. The region extends from the Santa Ana River to Aliso Creek and beyond.