GW's Clinical Placement Team and the people around it
Several GW offices touch a single rotation. The Clinical Placement Team runs each request from submission to clearance, program directors approve sites and preceptors, Clinical Experience Faculty supervise you once you begin, and Office of Student Services advisors look after your plan of study. Knowing who owns which decision gets you a faster, clearer answer.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your GW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your GW course.
Who owns which decision
GW publishes titles and duties rather than a single chart, so the table below pulls them together from GW's staff directory, program pages, the 2026 CORE workshop and GW's 2021 clinical placement guide. Titles are given as GW lists them.
| Role | What it handles | Reach it for |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical Placement Team | Requests, affiliation agreements, compliance checks, clearance | Where a submission stands, agreements, clearance |
| Program director | Program Director Review of each site and preceptor; program requirements | Whether a site or preceptor fits; track rules |
| Clinical Experience Faculty | Supervision in clinicals; site and preceptor appropriateness | Problems at the site, falling behind, exposures |
| Course faculty | Course objectives and the fit of each site | What the course expects from the rotation |
| Office of Student Services | Academic advising, testing and tutoring | Plan of study, course sequence, enrollment |
| Associate Dean for Graduate Clinical Programs | Named contact on the post-MSN DNP Nursing Practice page | Practice questions in that program |
The Clinical Placement Team
The team belongs to GW Nursing's Clinical Placement and Compliance department and works from one shared inbox, sonclinical@gwu.edu. GW's 2026 CORE workshop describes its job as facilitating the placement process and its documentation. GW's 2021 guide is more detailed: the team manages each request from first submission to final clearance, verifies student compliance and negotiates affiliation agreements with sites across the country.
The staff directory lists a Director of Clinical Placement and Compliance and program associates for graduate and undergraduate placement. The 2026 workshop divides graduate work by track, with one program associate for FNP and AGPCNP students and another for nurse-midwifery, acute care, PMHNP and Nursing Leadership and Management students. Accelerated and Veterans BSN students work with the undergraduate associate through bsnclinical@gwu.edu.
One power sits with this team alone. Under the 2021 guide, only the Clinical Placement Team can tell a student to start at a site; the clearance page explains what it checks first.
Program directors
Each program page names its program director as the contact for program requirements, and the director stands at the front of GW's review. The 2026 CORE workshop puts Program Director Review first among the backend steps after a Site Prospector submission, before any agreement work starts.
GW's 2021 guide hands program directors several other decisions. When a site is judged not appropriate, faculty contact the student to discuss alternatives. Program directors approve medical exemptions to the flu vaccine requirement. And with your Clinical Experience Faculty, the director decides whether a student still without a site by mid-semester can meet the course objectives that term.
In the acute care track the director's role goes further, from co-selecting sites to arranging them, depending on which GW page you read. The AGACNP placements page sets out those accounts side by side.
Clinical Experience Faculty and course faculty
Clinical Experience Faculty, shortened to CEF in GW's materials, are assigned before each term. The 2026 workshop sums up their role as clinical supervision, guidance and mentorship, including judging whether a site and preceptor are appropriate. If something at the site does not fit your course, they are the first people to tell.
GW's 2021 guide adds two practical duties. CEF coach students on how to identify sites, and they take the first report of an occupational exposure, then inform the site, the program director and GW's clinical compliance lead. Under that guide, medical costs from an exposure fall to the student.
Course faculty review sites and preceptors against the course objectives, a check GW's Clinical Rotations page describes as part of every request. How faculty and preceptors assess you during the term is covered on the evaluations and site visits page.
Advisors and the associate dean
The Office of Student Services, part of GW Nursing's Division of Student Affairs, handles academic advising, testing and tutoring, and student engagement. Its staff include a Director of Student Services, a Senior Academic Advisor and academic advisors assigned to specific tracks, and GW's admissions, enrollment and student services offices are based at Innovation Hall on the Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn.
Your advisor is the right person when a rotation problem turns into a plan-of-study question, such as moving a clinical course to a later term. GW's directory also lists an Assistant Dean for Student Enrollment and Success.
For the post-MSN DNP in Nursing Practice, GW's program page names the Associate Dean for Graduate Clinical Programs as the contact. GW publishes no separate placement process for those practice hours, so that office is the sensible first stop; the DNP practice hours page covers what GW does say about them.
Which door to knock on
Common situations and the right first contact
- A preceptor says yes: file the Site Prospector submission in CORE; the program director reviews it first.
- A preceptor declines or is not approved: GW's model calls for ongoing intervention and support and a return to identifying sites; tell your CEF and program director.
- A site goes quiet: under the 2021 guide, the placement team asks you to re-confirm after three unanswered attempts within a month on a new agreement, or after a week with no reply when an agreement already exists.
- You decide to drop a site: email the Clinical Placement Team and tell the site yourself.
- The site cancels: the placement team contacts you.
- An exposure at the site: report it to your CEF.
- Your course sequence changes: talk to your academic advisor.
GW's five-step placement model shows how these roles hand work to one another across a request.
Why GW students add us to the team
GW's staff handle agreements, compliance and clearance for students across many states. What GW leaves to most students is the search itself, and that is the part we take on in full. We find preceptors who fit your course where you live, collect their license and biography or CV, confirm the site's signatory, and hand you a submission ready for program director review.
You also get one steady point of contact for the search, your placement advisor, who knows your course, your term and every clinician already approached. When a preceptor falls through, we start the replacement search right away and keep your CEF's timeline in view. GW's staff make every approval and clearance decision; we make sure what reaches them is complete and fits the rules. Send your details through the contact page.
Questions GW students ask
What email do I use for GW Nursing clinical placement?
Graduate students write to the Clinical Placement Team's shared inbox, given in the team section above and on every GW program page. Accelerated and Veterans BSN students use the separate undergraduate clinical inbox. Put your name, program, course number and term in the subject line so the right program associate can pick it up quickly.
Who approves my clinical site at GW?
Your program director reviews it first. In GW's 2026 CORE workshop, Program Director Review is the opening step after you file a Site Prospector submission. The Clinical Placement Team then works through the affiliation agreement, placement confirmation, your compliance and site onboarding before it sends you a clearance notification.
Who is my Clinical Experience Faculty?
GW assigns Clinical Experience Faculty before each term, according to its 2026 CORE workshop, so the person can change from one clinical course to the next. Check your course site and CORE at the start of each term. If nobody has been assigned by the time your rotation begins, ask your course faculty or the placement team.
Will the Clinical Placement Team find a preceptor for me?
For most graduate tracks, GW says securing the site is the student's responsibility, with as much support as possible for students who struggle. The team can share a list of previously used sites and preceptors in your state, and program pages offer information on local sites. Acute care is the exception GW names.
Should I contact my advisor or the placement team about a delayed rotation?
Both, for different reasons. The Clinical Placement Team can tell you where the request stands and what is missing. Your academic advisor in the Office of Student Services can explain what a delay means for your plan of study, and your program director decides whether the course can still go ahead this term.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against GW's Bulletin and GW Nursing's own program and clinical pages. Your course, CORE and GW's Clinical Placement Team have the final word.
GW asks you to find your own site and preceptor. Hand that search to us.
Tell us your GW program, where you live and which clinical course is next. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the license, bio and site details GW's review asks for, so your Site Prospector goes in complete.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice for
NURS 6230toNURS 6232, older-adult primary care for AGPCNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP - License, bio or CV and the site's agreement signatory ready for your CORE submission
- Close to home, in DC, Maryland, Virginia or wherever you live and hold your RN license
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