Rivier University's DNP practicums and the external expert
Rivier University's DNP builds its practice hours around NURS 895, a practicum you take for at least four semesters with a Scholarly Project Team made up of you, a faculty guide and an external expert. Systems Leadership students who arrive with fewer than 500 supervised master's hours add NURS 715 under a nurse leader. Every path ends at 1,000 supervised hours.
Find your external expert
Tell us your DNP track, project topic and state.
Three entry paths, one practice-hour target
Rivier's 2026 DNP sheet describes three ways in. Each reaches 1,000 supervised hours, but they start from different places, and your starting point decides which practicum courses you take.
| Path | Who it is for | Credits | Practicum courses | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Practice | Certified APRNs | 39 | NURS 895 | 500 from the master's plus 500 in the DNP |
| Systems Leadership (post-MSN) | MSN nurses who are not APRNs | 39-47 | NURS 715 if under 500 prior hours, then NURS 895 | Brings the total to 1,000 |
| Systems Leadership Bridge | BSN nurses with a non-nursing master's | 61-69 | NURS 571P, NURS 715 and NURS 895 | 1,000 earned inside the program |
Professional Practice and post-MSN Systems Leadership take 2.5 years full time (five semesters) or 4.5 years part time (nine). The Bridge takes five years full time (15 semesters) or 6.5 years part time (19). The sheet asks applicants to document their supervised master's hours; Systems Leadership students below 500 make up the gap in NURS 715.
NURS 895: four or more semesters with a Scholarly Project Team
NURS 895 carries 3 credits a semester for at least four semesters, 12 credits in all, and continues at 1 to 3 credits a semester until the project is finished. The 2026 sheet calls it Doctoral Practicum/Seminar; the catalog calls it Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project Practicum. The number is the same in both.
The work runs through a Scholarly Project Team: you, your faculty guide and an external expert. The faculty guide comes from Rivier's faculty; the external expert brings practice expertise in your project's topic. The DNP section of the Handbook says faculty provide preceptor and mentor orientation, so your expert is not left to work out Rivier's expectations alone.
The DNP policy also mentions a clinical practicum portal without naming it. Ask your faculty guide how hours and project milestones are recorded before your first NURS 895 semester opens.
Finding your external expert
Rivier's Handbook says "each student will work with their faculty guide to identify an external expert" (p. 94), and the committee approves the choice. That makes the DNP the graduate program where the search is openly shared: you bring candidates, your faculty guide weighs them with you, and the committee decides.
No Rivier page says who secures the practice site where the project runs, as distinct from the expert. The two may overlap when your expert works in the setting where the project can happen. Settle the site question with your faculty guide early, since your license must cover that state.
What to bring to your first external-expert conversation
- A short statement of your project topic and the practice setting it needs
- Two or three candidate experts, with each person's role, credentials and CV
- The state where the project will run, matched to your RN (and APRN) license
- Your planned
NURS 895semesters, so each candidate sees the time commitment
NURS 715: the leadership capstone for students under 500 hours
NURS 715 Leadership Capstone Practicum is for Systems Leadership students who enter with fewer than 500 supervised hours from their master's. You take it at 2 to 4 credits a semester, up to 8 credits or until you reach 500 hours, and Rivier offers it in fall, spring and summer.
You set your goals with the Program Director and work under a nurse leader. That is a different search from the external expert: a nurse leader in a role that fits your goals and can host you across one or more semesters, rather than a subject specialist for a project. Because NURS 715 runs in all three semesters, a leader who can take you over the summer widens your options.
Bridge students, who earn all 1,000 hours inside the program, meet NURS 571P first. That course's numbering conflict is covered on the Education and Leadership practicums page.
Campus seminars: an online format with an on-campus requirement
Rivier's DNP page gives the format as online. Yet the 2025-26 catalog requires one on-campus seminar each semester of NURS 895. Across at least four NURS 895 semesters, that would mean at least four trips to Nashua, which matters if you live far from New Hampshire.
The 2026-27 academic calendar dates the FNP intensives but not the DNP seminars. Ask the Director of Doctoral Nursing Education whether the seminars meet on campus for your cohort, and when, before you commit to a project site far from campus; our campus intensives guide collects what Rivier publishes.
Two smaller mismatches sit beside it. The catalog includes NURS 800 in the Professional Practice core, but the 2026 sheet does not list it. The DNP page says 39 credits and 2.5 years, while the sheet gives 39 to 69 credits and 2.5 to 6.5 years depending on the path.
The DNP page says Format: Online, but the 2025-26 catalog requires an on-campus seminar in every NURS 895 semester. Confirm with the Director of Doctoral Nursing Education.
Licenses, grades and the doctoral clock
Throughout the program your RN license must stay unencumbered in whichever state hosts your scholarly project, and Professional Practice students must also hold an active APRN license. A lapse puts you on leave of absence, so check renewal dates against your NURS 895 semesters; the RN license for practicum guide goes further.
DNP grade rules are strict. Finish a practicum under 84% and you leave the DNP program; withdraw twice from one course and you can be dismissed, a lower limit than the MSN's. The catalog gives seven years from matriculation to finish, and every extra NURS 895 semester counts against that clock. If you are dismissed, the Doctoral Nursing Admissions Committee reviews any application to return. Grades and progression and leave, withdrawal and readmission cover both in full.
How we help Rivier DNP students
We help you build the candidate list your faculty guide asks for: external experts whose work matches your project topic and setting, with each person's role, credentials and CV gathered and their availability across four or more NURS 895 semesters confirmed. For NURS 715, we find nurse leaders whose roles fit the goals you set with the Program Director, summer included.
Every candidate practices in the state where your project will run, and in a state Rivier's State Guide accepts for DNP students. The committee and your faculty guide make the decision; we give them strong, fully documented options to decide between. If an expert's availability changes partway through the project, we start on a replacement candidate list at once so your team stays complete. Send your project topic and state with the form below.
Questions Rivier students ask
Can my external expert be someone I already work with?
Rivier's Handbook publishes no employer rule for external experts. It asks for someone with expertise in your project topic, identified with your faculty guide and approved by the committee. A colleague can be a strong candidate when their expertise fits; describe the working relationship openly when you propose them.
When does the Rivier DNP start?
Admission is rolling, with September, January and May starts; the next one Rivier lists is January 19, 2027. Courses run 14 weeks. Rivier publishes no sample plan showing which semester your first NURS 895 falls in, so ask for your plan of study at admission.
What GPA and licenses does Rivier's DNP ask for?
The 2026 DNP sheet lists a graduate GPA of 3.2, a graduate statistics course, proof of supervised master's hours and an unencumbered license in the practicum state: APRN for Professional Practice, RN for Systems Leadership. Once enrolled, you keep a 3.0 GPA with no grade below B.
Which states can Rivier DNP students live in?
Rivier's State Guide has its own DNP column. It marks California, Iowa and Washington red (unable to accept) and Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Oregon, South Dakota and Wyoming yellow (call the Program Director). The other listed states are green; see the State Guide page.
What if my DNP project takes longer than four semesters?
NURS 895 continues at 1 to 3 credits a semester until the project is finished, so a longer project adds semesters. Watch the seven-year limit for doctoral study; going past it needs a written application to the dean with a timeframe for completing the degree.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.