RENOWN NEWSROOM

Renown Health, the largest not-for-profit academic health system in the region, and the University of Nevada, Reno’s Orvis School of Nursing (OSN), Nevada’s first and longest-standing nursing school, were recognized for their exceptional academic partnership. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has selected the Gerald “Jerry” Smith Academic-Practice Partnership as a winner of the 2025 AACN Exemplary Academic-Practice Partnership Award. The annual awards program honors AACN member institutions that establish outstanding and model academic-practice partnerships. To be selected, academic-practice partnerships must demonstrate an innovative and sustained relationship that extends beyond clinical placements, present positive outcomes that are measurable, show a commitment to the Guiding Principles for Academic-Practice Partnerships and be in place for at least one year. Awards will be officially presented at the AACN Academic Nursing Leadership Conference, held at the JW Marriott Washington in Washington, D.C., from Nov. 1-3, 2025. “Winning this award affirms a partnership that goes far beyond student placements or tuition support. It’s truly bidirectional: Renown nurses enrich our curriculum and mentor our learners; OSN faculty collaborate inside the health system to strengthen care delivery; and together, we’re advancing nursing science through our joint work to establish an embedded Nurse Scientist at Renown,” said Charlie Yingling, DNP, Dean, Orvis School of Nursing. “This is how academic–practice partners should function—improving how we educate, how we practice and most importantly, how our community receives care.”

Local, not-for-profit organizations encouraged to apply for 2026 “Better Together” Community Grant Funding Program