WilmU's MSN in Nursing Leadership and its one clinical course
Wilmington University's MSN in Nursing Leadership is 36 credits across five concentrations, and only the Educator concentration lists clinical hours: 32 of them in MSN 7752 Clinical Teaching and Evaluation, completed with an approved mentor. Here is how the program is built, what WilmU asks you to clear before that course, and how we line up a clinical teaching mentor who fits it.
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Tell us your WilmU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your WilmU course.
The program at a glance
The MSN in Nursing Leadership is a 12-course, 36-credit master's with five concentrations and no nurse practitioner practicums. WilmU runs it in 7-week blocks with new classes every 8 weeks, and its overview says a student can finish in a little over one year.
| Item | What WilmU lists |
|---|---|
| Credits | 36, in 12 courses |
| Concentrations | Executive, Educator, Legal Nurse Consultant, Nursing Professional Development, Public Health |
| Formats | Classroom, online or hybrid, at New Castle, Brandywine or online |
| Pace | 7-week blocks; classes start every 8 weeks |
| Capstones | MSN 8705 and MSN 8706 for every student, with no stated hours |
| Clinical hours | 32 in MSN 7752, Educator concentration only |
| Grades and time limit | Keep a 3.0 GPA; finish within five years |
The master's is covered by WilmU's CCNE accreditation, which spans the baccalaureate, master's, DNP and post-graduate APRN certificate programs. The College directory lists a Chair and an Assistant Chair who oversee MSN Leadership together with the RN to BSN, plus an Adjunct Program Coordinator for MSN Leadership.
Five concentrations, one listed practicum
Every MSN Leadership student takes the shared coursework and the two capstones, and each concentration adds its own course set. Four of the five, Executive, Legal Nurse Consultant, Nursing Professional Development and Public Health, list no clinical hours on WilmU's curriculum page or in the catalog.
The Educator concentration is different. Its MSN 7752 Clinical Teaching and Evaluation course is the one place in the MSN where WilmU names a number of clinical hours and a person you complete them with. If you are choosing between Educator and Nursing Professional Development, that practicum is the practical difference to plan for: one track has a mentored clinical teaching requirement, the other does not state one.
The capstones, MSN 8705 and MSN 8706, close the program for everyone. WilmU does not attach hours to them, so ask your capstone faculty early whether yours involves an organization outside your own workplace.
Inside MSN 7752 Clinical Teaching and Evaluation
MSN 7752 carries 3 credits and 32 clinical hours alongside an approved mentor. The catalog adds a gate in front of it: clinical clearance, finished before the first day of the course. As the title says, the course is about teaching and evaluating in the clinical setting, so the mentor you approach is someone who does that work day to day.
The catalog is quiet on three things students ask about most: what qualifications the mentor holds, who approves the mentor, and how the 32 hours are documented. Those answers live in the program handbook and with your course faculty. Ask before the block begins, because the answer shapes which mentor you approach.
For context, the Delaware Board of Nursing's rules define a preceptor in general terms as a nurse with a BSN or higher, a valid license and shown competence in the student's area, licensed at or above the student's level in the state where precepting happens. Whether WilmU applies that definition to MSN 7752 mentors is a question for your course faculty.
Clinical clearance has to be finished before MSN 7752 begins. Starting the credentialing steps in the block before is the safest plan.
Clearance before the clinical course
Leadership students are inside the College's screening policy too: a background check and drug screen run through the College's own credentialing system, timed by the program handbook and paid for by the student. The full sequence is on our clinical credentialing guide, and the policy itself is walked through on the background check and drug screen page.
What matters for your timeline is that clearance sits in front of the clinical course, not inside it. A finding that needs review goes to the CONHS program coordinator, a medical reviewer and the College Dean or designee, and that review takes time you want behind you before registration for MSN 7752 opens. A refusal, or a finding that stays unresolved, keeps a student out of clinical courses altogether.
Fitting 32 hours into a 7-week block
MSN Leadership courses run in 7-week blocks. If MSN 7752 falls in a block, 32 hours over seven weeks works out to under five hours a week, a load you can plan around a work schedule once the mentor is confirmed. The pressure point is the start: a mentor who is still unconfirmed in week one leaves you compressing hours into the back half.
The 2026-27 blocks are Fall Block 1 from August 31 to October 18 and Block 2 from October 26 to December 13, then Spring Block 1 from January 11 to February 28 and Block 2 from March 8 to May 2. Each block ends with a reading week. Registration for Spring 2027 opens October 19, so a Spring mentor is best settled in the Fall. Every date is on the academic calendar guide.
After the MSN: the DNP and your licensure state
WilmU offers an MSN Leadership to DNP accelerated option that cuts the DNP's 45 credits to 39 or 36. The DNP Leadership concentration then asks for 1,000 practice hours, and WilmU allows that practicum or clinical hours from prior graduate work may be credited, so keep a clean record of your MSN 7752 hours and ask the DNP Program Chair how they count. MSN 7710 covers advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology and physical assessment for DNP Leadership students who lack them. The concentration is covered on our DNP Leadership guide.
WilmU's State Licensures by Program table shows MSN Leadership meeting educational licensing requirements nationwide apart from two states, Idaho and Wyoming, both marked Not Determined Yet. The full breakdown is on the licensure by state page.
Why MSN Leadership students choose us
We treat MSN 7752 as seriously as a nurse practitioner practicum. We look for experienced clinical educators, nursing professional development specialists and unit-based educators near where you live and work, confirm their license and credentials, and put their details in one organized file your course faculty can review. The approval call on any mentor or setting belongs to WilmU faculty, and our file gives them everything needed to make it quickly.
We also time the search to your block. Tell us the block you plan to take MSN 7752 in, and we work backward from its first day so the mentor, the clearance and the schedule line up. If you are also taking a Nursing Leadership Graduate Certificate, we plan both at once. Use the form below to start.
Questions WilmU students ask
Does WilmU's MSN in Nursing Leadership require clinical hours?
Only the Educator concentration lists them. MSN 7752 Clinical Teaching and Evaluation carries 32 clinical hours with an approved mentor. The Executive, Legal Nurse Consultant, Nursing Professional Development and Public Health concentrations show no clinical hours on WilmU's curriculum page, and the two capstones have no stated hours.
Can I take the MSN in Nursing Leadership fully online?
Yes. WilmU lists the program as classroom, online or hybrid, with in-person options at the New Castle and Brandywine locations. The MSN 7752 mentored hours still happen in person in a clinical setting, which can be near your home or workplace wherever you hold an RN license.
How long does WilmU's MSN Leadership take?
WilmU's overview says a little over one year, with 7-week blocks and classes starting every 8 weeks. The program must be finished within five years. Your pace depends on how many courses you take per block, and a plan in MyWilmU Degree Works shows where MSN 7752 falls.
What does the approved mentor for MSN 7752 need to have?
WilmU's catalog does not list mentor qualifications. Your course faculty, or the Assistant Chair over MSN Leadership, can say what the program handbook requires. We line up mentors with teaching experience in a clinical setting and send their credentials so faculty can decide quickly.
Can MSN 7752 hours count toward the DNP later?
WilmU says the DNP Leadership concentration may give credit for practicum or clinical hours from earlier graduate coursework toward its 1,000 hours. Whether your 32 hours count is the DNP Program Chair's decision, so keep your documentation from the course.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Wilmington University's own program and curriculum pages, the 2026-27 graduate catalog, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences policies and the State Licensures by Program page. Your NP Program Chair, your course faculty and the College have the final word.
A WilmU practicum coming up? Your preceptor search starts here.
Tell us your WilmU program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. Whether WilmU's faculty help with your placement or you are starting the search yourself, we find preceptors who fit the course, check the health system's own intake steps, and organize the preceptor's license and credentials well before the first day.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan for
GRN 7121toGRN 7124, psychiatric mental health forGRN 7221toGRN 7224, doctorally prepared for the DNP - Clinicians who meet Delaware's rule for APRN program preceptors: an active APRN, PA, pharmacist or physician license in a comparable focus
- Close to home, in a state where you hold an RN license, with each system's onboarding mapped out early
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