Who does what in UTRGV clinical placements

Where these titles come from

The roles below are pieced together from the 2025-26 course syllabi, UTRGV's PMHNP guidelines for the Clinical Request Form, the archived graduate FAQ, the School of Nursing organizational chart revised in April 2026 and an archived 2025 program coordinators page. The live coordinators address now forwards to an administration page whose directory loads by script and showed no titles when we read it.

People change from term to term, so this page names roles only. The syllabus for your course tells you who holds each role now, and it is the first place to look before you contact anyone.

In the FNP courses

The course coordinator is the center of gravity. In NURS 6347 the coordinator approves the sites you choose before you file the signed agreement, and in NURS 6612 and NURS 6613 the coordinator receives the Mandatory Weekly Time Report and decides whether you may finish hours early, which requires a legitimate reason and approval in advance.

Clinical faculty sit alongside the coordinator. The FNP I and FNP II syllabi refer to three clinical faculty and ask you to notify all of them when you will miss clinical time, and faculty visit sites at random, which is why the time report covers the current and following week. In NURS 6305, your assigned lab instructor receives the preceptor agreement a week ahead of clinical.

The archived 2023-24 guide spells out the balance: preceptors evaluate you in writing at the end of the experience, while faculty and the course coordinator carry final responsibility for judging your clinical performance. The catalog also assigns every FNP student an advisor for the plan of study. See site visits and evaluations for how grading works.

In the DNP

DNP students work mainly with their DNP project faculty advisors. The NURS 8211 syllabus requires at least four meetings with them in the implementation semester, and the catalog says NURS 8512 experiences are shaped under a faculty advisor's guidance.

Week two of NURS 8512 is the deadline for the clinical paperwork: agreement forms still outstanding, a data sheet on your physician or DNP-APRN preceptor, and a signed preceptor agreement. Because UTRGV's sources leave open who locates the site, settle that with your advisors early. The DNP program director handles program-level questions; DNP project hours has the course detail.

Where your placement advisor fits

Your placement advisor works for you, next to these roles. We find the preceptor, check the fit against the course and UTRGV's published rules, assemble the details your course coordinator, clinical faculty or graduate program staff need, and keep your forms moving. UTRGV faculty make every approval; we make sure what lands on their desk is complete and early.

Knowing who does what also tells us whom you need to update when something changes, so a dropped preceptor or a stalled agreement reaches the right person quickly. How it works shows our process, the placement process shows UTRGV's, and the request form starts your search.