Who does what in JSU's clinical process
JSU's graduate handbook and catalog name the titles that touch your clinicals, from the Director of Clinical Services, who coordinates CastleBranch, to the track clinical coordinators and DNP Chairs. This guide lists each title with what JSU says it handles. JSU does not publish who signs off an NP preceptor or site, so the guide also shows where to put that question.
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Tell us your JSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your JSU course.
How JSU names its clinical roles
The School of Nursing sits inside the College of Health Professions and Wellness. Its roles appear across three sources: the 2024-25 Graduate Handbook, the 2026-27 graduate catalog and the program pages on jsu.edu. This guide uses titles only. The people in them change, and the School's own pages and your Canvas courses show who holds each one today.
Keep the source dates in mind. The handbook is two catalog years older than the current catalog and still uses three-digit course numbers, so a title in it may have been renamed or merged since. If a title below does not match what you see in Canvas, go with Canvas and ask your advisor.
At the top, the Associate Dean and Chief Nursing Administrator leads the School of Nursing, and the Dean of the College of Health Professions and Wellness leads the wider college, which also holds respiratory therapy, kinesiology and public health programs.
Program and track roles
These are the faculty-side titles closest to your practicum or residency. JSU lists them; where it describes a duty, the table says so, and where it does not, the table says that too.
| Title | What JSU's documents say about the role |
|---|---|
| Course faculty | Hear about any absence before it happens, including preceptor shifts, orientation, dissemination and simulations; approve the DNP project proposal |
| FNP Clinical Coordinator | Listed among the graduate track clinical coordinators; duties not spelled out publicly |
| ANP Track Clinical Coordinator | The AGACNP track's clinical coordinator; duties not spelled out publicly |
| DNP Clinical Coordinator | Listed for the DNP program; duties not spelled out publicly |
| FNP Lead Faculty and AGACNP Lead Faculty | Advise students before any course withdrawal, alongside the program coordinator |
| DNP Program Coordinator and MSN Program Coordinator | Among those told when your home state, job or planned clinical setting changes; advise before withdrawals |
Alabama's nursing education rules leave the planning, delivery and evaluation of each student's clinical learning with the faculty. That is why the course faculty line is the one to start with when the question is about your practicum itself.
Compliance, records and your plan of study
A second group of titles handles the paperwork around your clinicals rather than the clinical teaching. Getting the right office first saves a round of forwarding.
- Director of Clinical Services: the handbook names this title as the CastleBranch coordinator, the person to reach when a requirement or the tracker itself gives you trouble, and the one who receives changes to your health insurance.
- Administrative Coordinator, Graduate Programs: the office copied when you move to another state, change jobs or expect a different clinical setting, alongside your faculty and program coordinator.
- Director of Online and Graduate Academic Services: issues your individual plan of study at admission, the document that fixes which term each practicum falls in.
- Graduate Nursing Program Office: source of the School of Nursing badge that graduate students must have on whenever they are in a clinical setting.
- Malpractice approval: JSU wants your malpractice proof cleared in the tracker ahead of any outreach to a clinical site, but it does not publish which title clears it.
What goes into the tracker and when it renews is covered in CastleBranch compliance.
DNP project roles
The DNP residency adds its own cast. The DNP admissions committee reviews applicants. DNP Chairs serve as project chairs, and the DNP timeline says a faculty member is assigned in the fall of the project year, the same stretch in which IRB training is completed and the proposal goes to faculty for approval around the end of September or start of October.
The preceptor has a defined part in the project too. The timeline has the preceptor meeting the student four times a semester, first to shape the quality-improvement plan and later to run it, asks preceptors for Executive Summary content ideas, and has results presented at the facility in July. Project facility staff are then invited to campus for Dissemination Day alongside students and faculty.
The course where this starts is DNP 8796 project planning, the summer course that follows Practicum IV for BSN-DNP students.
Offices beyond your course and track
Some clinical problems end up with offices beyond your course and track, several of them outside the School. These are the ones JSU's catalog and pages name for situations a practicum can create.
| Title or office | When it comes up |
|---|---|
| Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies | Incomplete extension requests (with the instructor and department head), No Credit grades, ineligibility appeals |
| Vice President for Student Affairs | Hardship withdrawal requests, including the single-course clinical exception |
| Office of the Registrar | Academic calendar, withdrawal deadlines, DegreeWorks |
| Technology Support Center and Online@JSU | GEM, DUO and MyJaxState access; Canvas and Honorlock support |
| Health and Sciences Librarian, Houston Cole Library | The nursing research guide, from the library's ninth floor |
| School of Nursing contact for other states | Program availability for students living outside Alabama |
| JSU representative to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education | Distance-education complaints |
Log-in and system questions are covered in JSU student systems.
The preceptor and the open approval question
JSU's own wording on the NP preceptor is short: students earn hours while working with a licensed preceptor. Alabama's nursing education rules give the fuller definition for advanced practice programs, and the preceptor requirements guide sets it out.
Who at JSU approves an NP preceptor or a clinical site is not published, and neither is the contract process or its lead time. The handbook, catalog and program pages name the titles above but leave that link out. Your track's clinical coordinator is the natural place to ask, in writing, and the answer belongs in your records.
How clearance works in practice, from malpractice approval to faculty sign-off, is on preceptor and site approval. If you live outside Alabama, the change-reporting titles above also matter for the five-state rule.
Where we fit alongside JSU's roles
Whether or not JSU helps with your placement, we match you with a preceptor and site that satisfy JSU's rules, and we build the file around the titles on this page. Sign-off belongs to JSU's faculty. Our part is making sure the file they open is whole and matches JSU's process on the first pass.
In practice your course faculty get the preceptor's credentials and practice information in one place, the site's information is organized for a contract, and your own tracker items and malpractice approval are verified before a single site is approached. When a question needs a JSU answer, we help you put it to the right title in one clear message, so you are not passed from office to office.
The how it works page lays out our steps, and the form below takes your track and start term.
Questions JSU students ask
Who is the CastleBranch coordinator for JSU nursing students?
JSU's 2024-25 Graduate Handbook names the Director of Clinical Services as the CastleBranch coordinator, the contact when a requirement or the tracker causes trouble. The same title receives changes to your health insurance. Check the School of Nursing's current pages or your orientation course for who holds the role now.
Who approves my preceptor at JSU?
JSU does not publish which title approves an NP preceptor or clinical site. Under Alabama's nursing education rules, faculty stay responsible for planning and evaluating every student clinical experience. Ask your track's clinical coordinator in writing how approval works for your course and how far ahead they need the preceptor's details.
Who do I notify if I move to another state during my JSU program?
The graduate handbook treats a move as a reportable change: it goes to the Administrative Coordinator, Graduate Programs, your program coordinator and your faculty at once, and it needs approval. For the NP tracks, only residents of five states are considered for admission, so raise a move early.
Who gives me my JSU plan of study?
The catalog says the Director of Online and Graduate Academic Services provides an individual plan of study at admission. It sets which semester each practicum and residency course falls in, so keep it handy when planning clinical placements and compare it with the current catalog if course numbers look different.
Where do JSU graduate nursing students get a clinical ID badge?
From the Graduate Nursing Program Office. The handbook says graduate students must display a School of Nursing badge whenever they work in a clinical setting, so distance students should ask early how the badge will reach them. Sort it out well before your first practicum shift.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against JSU's 2026-27 catalog, nursing handbooks, program pages and licensure disclosures. Your course faculty and your plan of study have the final word.
Whether JSU helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.
Tell us your JSU program, your next practicum or residency and the town you train near. We find preceptors and sites that fit the course and gather what JSU's faculty need to clear them, early enough for the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan, adult-gerontology acute care, DNP residencies
- License, certification and site details ready for JSU's clearance, with your CastleBranch and malpractice items in order
- Across Alabama and in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee
Start your placement plan
Your program, your town and your next clinical semester is all we need to begin.