Harrell Jordan to become first Black man to receive PhD from UIC Nursing
Jordan hopes to help increase the number of Black men who go into nursing and nursing education.
Harrell Jordan is used to being the “only.” Heading link
Harrell Jordan, RN, is used to being the “only.”
In his graduate-entry master’s program for nursing at DePaul University, he was the only Black man in his class of 65 students.
As a nurse in the emergency room, patients would routinely mistake him for a security guard or a nursing assistant.
When he graduates with his PhD from UIC Nursing on May 4, he’ll be the first Black man to do so, but it’s one of Jordan’s missions in life to make sure he’s not the last – and that, in the future, it’s no longer a newsworthy event.
“For me, truly, the reason that I’m doing this [program], it’s not for self-gain,” he says. “It’s also because I know that in order for more Black men to do what I’m doing, they need to see it’s possible.”
To be both male and Black in the nursing profession puts Jordan in an extreme minority. According to the 2022 National Nursing Workforce Survey, Black male nurses make up approximately 1% of RNs.
To be pursuing a PhD in nursing as a Black man puts Jordan among an even bigger minority – perhaps, even, in an infinitesimal group. According to the National Center for Science and Engineering statistics, there were only five Black men who received PhDs in nursing science in 2021 (out of 603 awarded in total that year, the most recent for which data is available).
Without Black men receiving PhDs in nursing, there are very few to go on to become faculty and conduct research in nursing.
“This is a significant moment for the college because Harrell Jordan looks like many students in our programs,” says Jordan’s advisor, Rohan Jeremiah, PhD, MPH, UIC Nursing associate dean for global health and a public health scholar. “His accomplishment will resonate with other students … and I hope Harrell’s achievement will inspire others to consider a PhD in nursing sciences.”
Beginnings
Jordan grew up in Galewood, a Chicago neighborhood just north of Oak Park, where his parents instilled in him the importance of education. After graduating with a degree in community health from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Jordan took a post-graduate seminar called Topics in Medicine. That class “opened up the world of nursing” to Jordan, who then enrolled in the nursing master’s degree program at DePaul.
While there, he worked as a graduate assistant, where he discovered a love of teaching.
He was recruited to join the Bridge to Doctorate program at UIC, which seeks to increase the number of underrepresented students who obtain PhDs in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.
Jordan, who considered becoming a nurse practitioner, says a meeting for the Bridge to Doctorate program was the turning point in his decision to pursue a PhD and a career in academia. One of the faculty members emphasized the need for more diverse representation among nursing faculty, Jordan recalls.
“I really took that torch,” Jordan says. “I’m all about shaping the minds of upcoming African American men to go beyond any limits they may place on themselves. I’ve had only a handful of Black male teachers in my career as a student, not just in [higher education], since grammar school. Seeing what you’re capable of makes it less intimidating.”
‘Worst health outcomes’
As a PhD student at UIC Nursing, Jordan’s dissertation is focused on the role that masculinity plays in how African American men utilize health care. About 43% of African American men use the emergency room to meet their health care needs, Jordan says, which he saw firsthand as an ER nurse at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park.
“We have the worst health outcomes and the lowest life expectancy,” says Jordan. “I’m trying to figure out exactly what can be done to mitigate these issues that we know exist, but haven’t been able to pinpoint a solution for.”
Jordan notes that due to the lack of Black men in nursing faculty positions, it was difficult to find appropriate committee members for his research. His committee does include Black men (his advisor, Jeremiah, for one), but none are nurses. Jeremiah’s background is in public health and his PhD is in applied anthropology. Yet having representation among nurse researchers is important to pushing the science forward.
“The research also supports the notion that, whether it’s research or health care, if it’s led by someone who looks like them, [patients are] more likely to participate and trust what the health care system is able to provide,” Jordan says.
As a student at UIC Nursing, Jordan has won the UIC Nursing Marguerite A. Dixon Scholarship Award twice, which is given to African American students with stellar academic performance.
“Meeting Marguerite Dixon’s family and seeing the passion for why she wanted to provide the scholarship, which is to support African Americans’ journeys into an academic or doctoral field, it definitely meant a lot to me,” Jordan says. “I continue to strive to live up to the standards of what that award means.”
He has also been awarded the UIC-wide Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship, which is given to students who show high academic achievement and a commitment to community service. Jordan volunteers with the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Illinois, raising money in memory of his aunt who died from the disease.
During his doctoral studies, Jordan has also worked full time as associate dean of faculty at Chamberlain University, where he seeks out Black male students to mentor.
He says one of the keys to his perseverance through adversity is his relationship with God. He also credits his wife, Martinique Jordan, who is also a nurse, with being a support for him through the PhD program.
In his fleeting spare time, he spends time with his wife, sings at church, and sings background vocals with TJC Choral Group at weddings and other events.
“Pioneering is tough,” Jordan says. “I’m definitely honored to be able to share a piece of my journey.”