Second round nominations for nurse educator fellowships - due March 6

The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) is seeking Second Round nominations for the Fiscal Year 2026 Nurse Educator Fellowship Program. The program is funded with an appropriation of $800,000.

PLEASE NOTE PROGRAM RULE CHANGES AS OUTLINED BELOW:

As of October 2025, new Rules were approved by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), and adopted by IBHE, implementing revisions to the Nurse Educator Fellowship award procedures, and meant to enhance the ability of eligible nursing faculty to benefit from the Fellowship program, including increased award amounts.

1. Under the new Rules, nursing faculty must now only wait 1 year before being able to reapply for a Fellowship award, instead of the previous 5-year wait provision.

    

2. Additionally, the new Rules now allow for a maximum award request of $25,000. Further guidelines for this provision are outlined under Attachment C criteria.

Please review the nomination packet carefully. The IBHE will consider institutional and individual efforts to advance equity as part of the selection process. Student data previously submitted by the institution to the IBHE will be included in this part of the application review.

The nomination packet and forms are attached and may be accessed on the IBHE web site at:

https://www.ibhe.org/nefp.html 

Submit nominations to IBHE by email to nursingfellows@ibhe.org on or before March 6^th, 2026.