Why Collaborate between states and programs?

Universities often view each other as competitors. State lines, sports competition and various rankings of schools and colleges can fuel this competition. A car accident on an icy road provided an impetus for two public western universities to collaborate. In addition to resolving institutional differences, in order to be effective the universities needed to get their bureaucratic issues resolved quickly. The result of this collaboration will be described in this presentation. A brief digital story will explain the context and impact of our collaboration. We will present key elements of our memorandum of understanding between the universities as well as how issues about workload, financial reimbursement, and student tuition were resolved. We will also discuss lessons learned from our experience and choices we might not make again. There is a clear need for universities to work together in a time of dwindling nursing faculty and financial resources. This paper will demonstrate one way to prepare the next generation of family psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners and faculty.