Today, on the Love n' Leary podcast, we provide an update on the Nursing is STEM coalition. In August, the Nursing is STEM board submitted an application to the Department of Homeland Security to designate nursing as a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) profession. You can watch our episode from last season to learn more (https://studio.youtube.com/video/zLra8hGDHpg/edit).

There has been a groundswell of support for the DHS application, including signatories from 70+ Colleges, Universities, and Schools of Nursing, 50+ National or State Level Professional Healthcare organizations, and 1740 individuals, including Deans, Presidents, and others. In September, the National American Nurses Association (ANA) also submitted a letter to DHS supporting the nursing STEM movement, which included other large nursing organizations, including the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL)!

We should hear back from DHS by the end of the year, but in the meantime, we are considering other routes, including lobbying Congress and submitting an application to the Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This is where we need your help. NCES updates its list every 10 years; the next update will be in 2030, but we have heard that there may be a 2025 update. This means we need to keep the momentum going!

Call To Action: We need you to write letters to the editor, op-eds for your local newspapers and blogs, and commentaries for your professional journal. Post on LinkedIn. Share the Nursing Is STEM website with others and have them and your organizations sign on: nursingisstem.org. We are 4 million strong, and we need your voice and expertise to continue to amplify the Nursing Is STEM movement.