Widener Nursing School Named a Top School for Men in Nursing for a Second Straight Year
The Jack & Nancy Dwyer School of Nursing at Widener University in Chester has been named one of the nation’s best schools for men in nursing for the second consecutive year.
The American Association for Men in Nursing, or AAMN, named Widener one of 16 schools across the country selected as a Best School for Men in Nursing this year. Widener first made the list in 2025 and was chosen again this year.
Other schools honored this year include Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt University’s school of nursing.
The award recognizes work to recruit men into nursing and help them finish their studies, a supportive and inclusive educational environment for male students, and efforts to teach faculty, students and the community about the contributions men have made to nursing. The association’s published criteria include concrete items such as featuring men in promotional materials, holding career events aimed at men, plans to raise gender diversity among students and faculty, and course content that covers men’s health. The awards were presented at AAMN’s 51st annual conference, held Oct. 15-17 in Las Vegas.
Widener chartered an AAMN chapter on campus in 2012. The number of male faculty members has grown steadily since then, year after year.
The effort was led by Normajean Colby, an associate professor who directs the nursing education program and the clinical nurse specialist graduate programs. Colby is also the faculty adviser to Widener’s AAMN chapter.
Colby said a second straight award was an honor almost beyond belief, and that the goal is to draw in everyone who wants to nurse and to give each student what that student needs, where the student needs it. She said men belong in nursing, and that gender diversity makes both the profession and the care it gives patients stronger.
Colby also said diversity in nursing includes gender diversity, and that patients receive the best care when their nurses reflect the diversity of the communities where they live.
The honor comes as the share of men in nursing is slipping. According to the National Nursing Workforce Survey conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, men accounted for 10.4 percent of registered nurses in 2024, down from 11.2 percent in 2022. The increase that ran for more than two decades, doubling the share from about 5.4 percent in 2000, has reversed for the first time.
AAMN is running a “20 by 40” campaign to raise the share of male nurses to 20 percent by 2040. The association has received a $100,000 donation through a fund that men’s issues researcher Richard Reeves helped establish, money that will go toward recruiting and keeping male nurses and building mentoring programs.