The American Association of Colleges of Nursing projects that Georgia will face a drastic nursing shortage by 2035, placing it among the ten most affected states. To make nursing education more accessible, Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have launched a new pathway program to open more routes into nursing.
The agreement went into effect in October 2025, allowing Georgia Tech students to begin applying immediately for the upcoming cycle, which begins in Summer 2026. Georgia Tech Deputy Director for Academic Success and Advising Shannon Dobranski wrote in an email to The Emory Wheel that students will typically be able to apply within their first six semesters. However, Dobranski added that the program will also consider students closer to graduation for the initial cycle. To qualify for Emory’s 15-month Master of Nursing (MN) program, applicants must complete 25 hours of approved math and science prerequisites.
Emory School of Nursing Senior Associate Dean for Enrollment, Student Affairs, and Organizational Engagement Lisa Muirhead spearheaded the program after establishing similar collaborations with other Atlanta universities.
“We’ve done this sequentially,” Muirhead said. “We’ve built a formal partnership with Agnes Scott, with Spelman, with Oglethorpe and the most logical and next step was Georgia Tech. I reached out and was enthused and excited that they were as interested as we were.”
Muirhead said this partnership “creates a clear, structured career pathway into nursing” for Georgia Tech students to plan their coursework strategically and transition seamlessly into Emory’s MN program. She added that graduates of the program will have success in employment, with most receiving job offers from Emory Healthcare or other affiliated institutions. 97% of graduates have jobs within three months of graduation.
“We are certainly meeting a workforce need, particularly as we consider the vacancies of nursing positions,” Muirhead said. “Every one of these graduates who complete that Georgia Tech education, transition to the School of Nursing, will move into the workforce.”
Dobranski said that Georgia Tech students transitioning into this program will reap the benefits of pursuing interdisciplinary work because Georgia Tech does not offer a degree in nursing.
“Our students are known for their comfort with science and technology,” Dobranski said. “They have excellent critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and I’m super excited that our graduates are going to go on and inform this really essential element of American health care.”
Francisco Castelan, assistant director for pre-health advising at Georgia Tech, added that the initiative will expand university support for students exploring non-traditional health careers.
“College is an exploratory time, and this adds to the potential options of what they could be considering versus the traditional pathways,” Castelan said.
For students like Leah Vazquez (27N), the partnership exemplifies the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration already transforming the healthcare space.
“This partnership really opens up the nursing world into different career pathways like engineering and technology and things like that,” Vazquez said. “It really gives us a support system and shows us that we have the support of people in other career pathways.”
Looking ahead, Muirhead highlighted that the partnership exemplifies the potential of the future of nursing education.
“The beauty of this particular partnership is two top-ranked institutions who are coming together to build a bridge to improve the human condition,” Muirhead said. “We have a person who has experience in technology, moving and combining that with an expertise in nursing, which really affords an opportunity for us to answer new questions, new solutions, equipping students to develop cutting-edge strategies to enhance clinical practice, optimize health systems and improve patient care outcomes.”
