DNP project hours at UTRGV: NURS 8210, NURS 8211 and NURS 8512

Q: Can a DNP-prepared nurse executive without APRN licensure be my preceptor?

The NURS 8512 preceptor data sheet names physicians and DNP-prepared APRNs, and UTRGV publishes no other DNP preceptor type. A nurse leader without APRN licensure falls outside that wording, so confirm with your advisor before asking them to sign anything.

Updated September 27, 2026 · Reviewed by the UTRGV Preceptor placement team

UTRGV's online DNP carries the DNP Project through three courses, and only one publishes an hour figure: NURS 8211 grades 100 hours of clinical logs while you implement your project at an approved site. NURS 8512 then brings the capstone clinical experience, with an affiliation agreement, a physician or DNP-prepared APRN as preceptor, and three evaluations.

Get matched Chat now

Get your placement plan

Tell us your UTRGV program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your UTRGV course.

100hours of clinical logs graded in NURS 8211

9credits of DNP Project courses in the 45-credit program

4minimum meetings with DNP Project Faculty Advisors in NURS 8211

The three DNP Project courses

The catalog groups NURS 8210, NURS 8211 and NURS 8512 as the 9-credit clinical project block of the 45-credit program. Each asks something different of you and of your site.

UTRGV DNP Project courses (2026-27 catalog and recent syllabi)
Course	Credits and type	What happens	Hours published
`NURS 8210` DNP Project I: Development	2, lecture	You design a clinical scholarship project, overseen by a faculty committee	None found
`NURS 8211` DNP Project II: Proposal	2, lecture	Implementation and data collection at an approved site; at least four advisor meetings	100 hours of clinical logs
`NURS 8512` DNP Project III: Evaluation	5, lecture and lab	Capstone clinical experience; site and preceptor forms; evaluations	None found

Note the naming quirk: NURS 8211 is titled Proposal, yet its catalog description is about completing implementation and data collection. NURS 8512 lists NURS 8211 as its prerequisite. UTRGV posts no DNP plan of study, so your advisor sets the order of terms; the course documents behind this page date from Fall 2025 for NURS 8211, Spring 2026 for NURS 8512 and Summer I 2026 for NURS 8210.

NURS 8211: 100 logged hours at an approved site

The Fall 2025 NURS 8211 syllabus lists "Clinical Logs (100 hours)" among its graded components, and its calendar marks the "Implementation Phase of DNP Project at approved site." The hours come from carrying out your project where UTRGV has approved you to work, and the log itself is part of your grade.

The same syllabus requires you to meet your DNP Project Faculty Advisors at least four times that semester. UTRGV's public sources do not name the platform for DNP logs; FNP and PMHNP students use Typhon, so ask at your first advisor meeting where yours belong.

Our reading of the consequence: the site should be approved, with its agreement signed, by the time implementation starts. A site still in negotiation when NURS 8211 opens puts both the 100 hours and your project timeline at risk.

NURS 8512: the capstone clinical experience

The catalog calls NURS 8512 a "capstone clinical experience course" that integrates the DNP role, with individual experiences shaped under a faculty advisor's guidance. The Spring 2026 syllabus sets a Week 2 deadline for your IRB proposal and three clinical forms.

Due by Week 2 of NURS 8512 (Spring 2026 syllabus)

Affiliation Agreement Forms, if you did not submit them before the semester
Preceptor Data Sheet (Physician and/or DNP-APRN)
Preceptor Agreement/Student Commitment Form
Your IRB proposal

Three evaluations follow later in the term: your preceptor's evaluation of you, your evaluation of the preceptor and your survey of the clinical site. The syllabus frames its objectives around "the DNP APRN," a point that matters for students from leadership roles, covered below. The preceptor agreement and forms page explains the agreement documents, and site visits and evaluations covers how evaluations work across programs.

Your preceptor, and who finds the site

The preceptor data sheet names the kinds of preceptor UTRGV expects: a physician, a DNP-prepared APRN, or both. No other DNP preceptor type appears in UTRGV's public documents. The preceptor requirements page compares this with the FNP and PMHNP rules.

UTRGV does not say who finds the project site or the preceptor. What the syllabi make clear is that you submit the affiliation agreement forms and preceptor paperwork for an approved site. A site with no agreement goes through UTRGV's Clinical Request Form, which carries a DNP checkbox, and the PMHNP guidelines, the only UTRGV document that gives timing, put agreements at 30 to 90 days. The Clinical Request Form page explains that route.

The catalog requires an RN license from Texas or a compact state. UTRGV publishes no rule on which state the project site must be in.

Total practice hours are not published

UTRGV publishes no total for DNP practice hours and no rule for verifying hours earned in an earlier master's program. The 100 hours in NURS 8211 is the only DNP hour figure in any public UTRGV source, and the program's 2022 launch news mentioned hours only as the number accreditation standards require.

So treat 100 as one course's requirement, not your program total. Ask the DNP program director or your project advisors how hours are counted across the whole program, especially if you arrive with clinical hours from an advanced practice master's. The clinical hours hub sets the DNP beside UTRGV's other programs.

The 100 logged hours in NURS 8211 are not the DNP's total. UTRGV has published no total, and NURS 8512 carries its own capstone clinical experience on top.

One curriculum for every DNP student

UTRGV's DNP has a single 45-credit plan: 36 credits of core courses and the 9-credit project block. The catalog says it prepares graduates for leadership and administration or for APRN practice, but it publishes no separate APRN or leadership track, so every student takes the same three project courses.

Admission sets your starting point. The current catalog asks for a master's, and post-master's applicants need their nursing master's to be in one of four advanced practice areas (NP, CNS, CNM or CRNA). The 2022 launch announcement described entry with a BSN, which the current catalog no longer reflects. Because NURS 8512 frames its objectives around the DNP APRN, in our view a preceptor who can speak to advanced practice suits most projects. The DNP program guide covers admission and the full curriculum.

How we support your DNP Project site

Your placement advisor starts with your project topic and where you live, then looks for a site where the project can truly be implemented and a physician or DNP-prepared APRN willing to precept you and sign the forms.

We work outward from the project itself: the population you plan to reach, the setting where the change will happen and the data you need to collect decide which organization makes sense, and then we find the preceptor inside it.

A site and preceptor matched to your project question and setting
Preceptor data sheet details and agreement information ready before NURS 8211 implementation begins
An early start on any new affiliation, allowing for the 30 to 90 day window
Everything lined up for the NURS 8512 Week 2 deadline
A replacement search if your site or preceptor changes

Tell us about your project through the placement request form.

Questions UTRGV students ask

Can I do my DNP project at my own workplace?

UTRGV's public DNP sources do not address it. The workplace ban you may have heard about comes from the PMHNP certificate's FAQ and belongs to that program. Ask your DNP Project Faculty Advisors early, because the site has to be approved and covered by an affiliation agreement either way.

Can a DNP-prepared nurse executive without APRN licensure be my preceptor?

The NURS 8512 preceptor data sheet names physicians and DNP-prepared APRNs, and UTRGV publishes no other DNP preceptor type. A nurse leader without APRN licensure falls outside that wording, so confirm with your advisor before asking them to sign anything.

Is the DNP Project done online like the coursework?

The coursework is fully online, and the catalog lists the DNP under online delivery only. The project itself is implemented at an approved site, and the logged hours in NURS 8211 come from that site, so part of your work takes place there rather than on a screen.

When should my DNP project site be approved?

No program-wide deadline is published. Two course dates set the pace: implementation at an approved site during NURS 8211, and the Week 2 deadline in NURS 8512 for agreement and preceptor forms. With agreements taking up to 90 days, our suggestion is to settle the site while you are in NURS 8210.

Does UTRGV's DNP count clinical hours from my master's program?

UTRGV publishes no rule on counting earlier hours toward the DNP and no total to count them against. The PMHNP certificate's archived FAQ refused prior hours, but that answer belongs to the certificate. Ask the DNP program director how your master's hours are treated before you plan around them.

OnlineDNPUTRGV's 45-credit online DNP: one curriculum for leadership or APRN roles, a fall start, admission rules, and the approved project site and its preceptor.UTRGV systemClinical hoursClinical hours in every UTRGV nursing program, course by course: FNP 605, 740 or 800, PMHNP 520, 100 logged DNP hours, and the Texas 500-hour floor.UTRGV systemClinical Request FormHow UTRGV's Clinical Request Form sets up a new clinical site: the fields, standard and non-standard agreements, the 30 to 90 day wait, and who does what.UTRGV systemPreceptor requirementsWho may precept each UTRGV course: NPs, PAs or physicians for FNP, two NPs for NURS 6347, ABPN or ANCC board certification for PMHNP, and the DNP rule.UTRGV systemPreceptor agreement and formsUTRGV's preceptor agreement, student commitment, orientation packet, Mandatory Weekly Time Report, evaluations and PMHNP hours letter: what each does and when.UTRGV systemWho does whatThe UTRGV roles behind your clinicals, by title: course coordinator, clinical faculty, lab instructor, program coordinators, graduate staff and DNP advisors.

Last checked 2026-09-27

We check these pages against UTRGV's own catalog, course syllabi, School of Nursing pages and Texas Board of Nursing rules. Your course faculty and the School of Nursing have the final word.

From the approved list or a brand-new site, we find the preceptor who fits.

Tell us your UTRGV program, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We line up a willing preceptor who fits the course and UTRGV's rules, and hand you the details the Clinical Request Form, the affiliation agreement and the preceptor agreement ask for, well before the semester.

Family practice preceptors for NURS 6612 and NURS 6613, and two NP sites for NURS 6347
Board-certified psychiatric preceptors for NURS 6476 and NURS 6620, in your home state
Across the Valley and Texas, from McAllen and Brownsville to San Antonio, Houston and beyond
A replacement lined up fast if a preceptor drops

Start your placement plan

Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.