Through the college’s two instructional sites in Sugar Land and Katy, students are able to receive state-of-the-art training from faculty and gain clinical experience at hospitals across the Houston area, Kathryn Tart, dean of the college of nursing said.
The history
UH took over the college of nursing from University of Houston-Victoria for the Sugar Land and Katy sites in 2013, Tart said.
In Texas, the demand for registered nurses is projected to rise from 253,610 in 2025 to 310,700 in 2037, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Having the campuses in Sugar Land and Katy is important because the student body reflects the demographic landscape, Tart said.
“[Our students] mirror the population that we serve. As our demographics change in the state, our demographics [remain well-balanced],” she said.
What it offers
The college is the only public nursing program in the Houston area that sits in a fully comprehensive university, Tart said. Outside of the college, degree programs are operated by private and for-profit institutions, or have main campuses outside of the Houston area.
The college offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate nursing degrees, Tart said.
“We always knew that there was a large group of students on the main campus of the University of Houston [...] who were interested in nursing and needed a pathway to get into the nursing profession,” Tart said.
Additionally, the college has the only two accredited simulation centers of any program in the Greater Houston area, Community Impact reported.
The results
Every year since its inception, all students have passed the National Council Licensure Examination required for licensure as a registered nurse upon their first try, Tart said.
“[That] tells me ... that our curriculum is really strong,” she said. “We have really smart faculty who can guide the students to where they need to be, and we have great clinical experiences to train the students.”
Students gain experience at local health care institutions through seven to eight rotations from the 111 clinical affiliation agreements across the Houston area, Tart said.
Based on the class of 2024, about 95% of UH’s bachelor students and 100% of master’s students have job placements after graduation, with 98% of these students accepting job offers within Texas, Tart said.
“If you talk to our hospitals, ... they'll say they love to hire our students, because our students stay in the community,” Tart said. “The college of nursing is a wonderful pipeline that is a respected and trusted pipeline to produce nurses that are of high quality and work for our communities.”
Managing the impact
Donations that fund professorships, scholarships and facilities ensures UH will continue to make a dent in the demand for nursing that increases as long as the population ages and people move to the state, Tart said.
In 2023, the college was renamed after UH alumnus Andy and Barbara Gessner after a $20 million donation to fund three new openings for postgraduate professors and research staff, Community Impact reported.
Scholarships are key to serving students of all financial backgrounds, Tart said. The college has 19 named scholarships posted on its website. The college ranked among the programs with the 10 lowest debt amounts upon graduation nationwide, according to a 2019 Forbes analysis.
Looking ahead
College officials are working to implement a UH Population Health minor, and want to expand opportunities within psychiatric and gerontological nursing, Tart said.
Officials said they don’t have information on when the minor might be offered.
The college has also requested $15 million from the 2025 Texas Legislature to fund a Perioperative Nursing Center of Excellence at the Sugar Land campus. The center will provide instructional operational rooms and has the potential to secure research grants and create a long-term revenue stream through in-person and virtual training programs, a UH spokesperson said.
