In 1973-74, a graduate nursing program was started under the aegis of the School of Graduate Studies. On Nov. 16, 1979, the Board of Curators approved a proposal to establish a school of nursing at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In 1981, following a developmental period, two new curricula were implemented. These were an upper-division baccalaureate degree for registered nurses and a revised master's degree program for clinical nurse specialists. In 1992, the Board of Curators approved the offering of an inter-campus, cooperative doctoral program in nursing (Ph.D. N.D.). The doctoral curricula was implemented on the Kansas City campus in the Fall Semester of 1995. In 2000, the Board of Curators approved the offering of a pre-licensure baccalaureate degree program beginning in the Fall Semester of 2001.  The Board of Curators approved the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program which began in 2007 and graduated its first post-master's class in December 2008.  A name change to the School of Nursing and Health Studies was approved in February 2013 following the opening of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHS) began in the fall of 2011.  The Masters level Nurse Practitioner tracks were re-opened in Fall 2016 and Post MSN Certificate Program was opened in 2017.  In 2018, the Bachelor of Public Health (BSPH) and Masters level Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner track were opened and began enrolling students in the spring 2018.