Last Updated: May 13, 2022
This privacy policy is provided for the Website operated by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (“AACN”, “Association”, “we”, “us”, “our”) found at www.aacnnursing.org and social media sites. AACN’s privacy policy describes our privacy practices, but we do not own, operate, or control the privacy practices of any of our vendors (“Service Providers”) or other third parties with whom we may share information. This policy applies solely to the information provided while visiting this Website or to information that we share through our Website. This privacy policy is designed to provide transparency into our privacy practices and principles in a format that our users can navigate, read, and understand.
Who We Are and Represent
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national voice for academic nursing. AACN works to establish quality standards for nursing education; assists schools in implementing those standards; influences the nursing profession to improve health care; and promotes public support for professional nursing education, research, and practice. AACN represents 825 member schools of nursing at public and private universities nationwide. These schools offer a mix of baccalaureate, graduate, and post-graduate programs. The dean or chief nurse administrator serves as the representative to AACN, though the association serves the entire academic enterprise, including faculty, administrative staff, and students.
What Information We Collect Through Our Website
Basic Account Information - Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
We collect information you provide to us when you request or purchase products, services, or information from us, register with us, respond to surveys, or otherwise interact with us or take part in activities on our Website.
If you choose to create a MyAACN account, you must provide us with information so that we can provide our services to you. This PII includes your name, password, email address, address, and phone number. In addition, when you provide us with your information to register for a conference, event, or webinar, place an order, or subscribe to our newsletter, it is necessary for us to use your information to provide you with the item or service that you have purchased.
Web Browsing Data - Non-Personally Identifiable Information (Non-PII)
The Website may collect or request anonymous or non-PII, demographic information, or data about use of the Website from visitors. Web Browsing Data alone does not personally identify you. When you visit our Website, we or our Service Providers may collect the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer or Internet Service Provider, your domain, operating system, web pages you viewed while visiting our Website, date, time of day, browser type and other similar information.
How We Use Your Information
Provide Personalized Services
We use PII to process transactions and customize our services for you, including recommended products, events, and resources.
Communicate with You
We use PII, like your email address, to interact with your directly with AACN’s resources, services, announcements, opportunities, event marketing, etc. Note: If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email.
Content Ads
Non-PII that we or our Service providers collect is used to serve advertisements on AACN’s Website. Some of these ads may be tailored to your interest based on your browsing the Website and elsewhere on the Internet (sometimes referred to as “interest-based advertising” and “online behavioral advertising”), which may include sending you an ad on a Third-Party Service after you have left AACN’s Website. (i.e., “re-targeting”).
Measuring Performance
AACN uses Non-PII for analytics and measurement of site traffic and engagement. AACN uses this data to help improve both the user experience and functionality. AACN uses external services including Google Analytics to attain real-time statistics on use and navigation of the Website, including page views, traffic patterns, visit counts, and visit statistics. These services are not used to gather, request, record, require, collect, or track personally identifiable information.
Member Mailing List Rental
AACN makes two mailing lists available to third parties for a fee for one-time use only. While this information is not collected through our Website, we do advertise the mailing list for sale through our Website. The information shared includes the name and business address of the dean at the school of nursing. AACN's mailing labels are reserved for one-time use only and distributed through the United States Postal Service (not electronically sent). The information may not be photocopied or otherwise duplicated or entered into a temporary or permanent database.
Survey Data
AACN’s Institutional Data Systems and Research Center (IDS) collects and reports the most current data to the nursing education community on student enrollment and graduations as well as faculty demographics, salaries, and vacancy rates in baccalaureate and graduate nursing. While this information is not collected through our Website, we do share the aggregated and de-identified survey data through our Website. Any identifiable data collected are kept strictly in the AACN-secured SQL database with password protection. All individual-level information is treated as restricted – any data shared with third parties is aggregated and not personally identifiable. For more information on AACN’s Data policy for research efforts, please contact AACN’s Research and Data department. AACN reports and publications that include this aggregated and de-identified information are produced in various formats including printed publication, paper reports, and web documents.
Culture and Climate Survey
AACN’s Culture and Climate survey collects and reports individualized data to nursing schools that elect to conduct a survey. This information is not collected through or shared on our public Website. Institutions submit data and run survey reports from within a private, password-protected site. All data collected are kept strictly in an AACN-secured SQL database with password protection. All individual-level information is treated as restricted – all data used for national-level reporting is aggregated and not personally identifiable. All schools participating in the survey will receive a copy of their individual report and a copy of the national report. For more information on AACN’s Data policy for research efforts, please contact AACN’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Department, at cdowning@aacnnursing.org.
How We Protect Your Information
We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order or enter, submit, or access your personal information.
We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our Payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems and are required to keep the information confidential.
After a transaction, your private information (credit cards, social security numbers, financials, etc.) will not be stored on our servers.
Third Party Links
Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third party products or service providers on our Website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.
These external services may also employ the use of cookies, web beacons, and/or pixels. More information on these external services and their data/privacy policies can be found by following the links below:
Use of Cookies and Web Beacons
AACN’s Website uses cookies to improve its functionality, monitor site performance, and to understand users' browsing and buying activities so that we can measure the success of online advertising campaigns we run on our Website. Our Website also uses web beacons (either directly or from our partners), along with cookies , to determine if a user has visited a particular website. These beacons aid in providing more relevant advertising to the user as well as measuring the success of an advertising campaign, but provide no personally identifiable information.
Additional information on the cookies used by this site can be found below.
Cookies are small text files that web servers typically send to users’ computer when they visit a website. Cookies are stored as text files on users’ hard drive, and can be accessed by web servers when the user visits a website or views an advertisement.A session cookie is a cookie that stores information as a user is using the Site but is deleted once the browser session is finished.A persistent cookie is a cookie that stores information as a user utilizes the Site and stores and uses that information in connection with future visits of the user to the Site.Third-party cookies and/or web beacons are cookies or web beacons provided by our technology and/or advertising partners.Any third-party cookie or web beacon that we authorize for use on the Site only collects that information described below for the same stated purposes as if we were directly collecting the information.For a third-party cookie or web beacon, the third-party will have access to the collected information in order to provide us with information or services to enhance the performance and functionality of the Site.
The cookies and web beacons we use collect non-personally identifiable information about users of the Site, including: browser used to access the site, date and time, the URL of the page being loaded, users who have visited a particular website(s), any previously assigned cookie identification (a unique identifier assigned to a user to identify repeat visitors), browser window size, the geographic location of the user, device and operating system used to access the Site. The information we collect from these cookies and web beacons is used to determine information about a user’s visit to our Site, including the number of visits, average time spent, pages viewed, navigation history through the website, and other statistics. This information is used to enhance the users experience while visiting our Site and to improve the performance of our Site by, among other things, allowing us to monitor Site performance, making the Site easier to use, measuring the effectiveness of promotional placements, and tailoring the Site (including the ads and offers a user receives) to better match a user’s interests and preferences.
Required Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the Website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms.
You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.
All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the Website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by one of our service providers. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Your Choices
Option to Unsubscribe
Should you receive an email from us, you may opt out of receiving additional emails by following the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of our emails. You may also contact us directly at privacy@aacnnursing.org to unsubscribe from a single subscription or from all subscriptions with us. Please note that even if you opt out of receiving promotional emails from us, we may continue to send you some form of communication, such as those relating to your MyAACN account, product inquiries, or event/webinar registration.
Option to Deactivate Cookies, Web Beacons, and other Technologies
You may block cookies by changing the privacy settings in your Internet browser. Most browsers automatically accept cookies. To learn more about cookies, including how to refuse cookies on your computer by adjusting web browser settings, follow these links:
Children
AACN’s services and Website are not intended for, nor targeted to, children under 13, and we do not knowingly or intentionally collect information from children under 13. If we learn that we have received information directly from a child who is under the age of 13, we will delete the information in accordance with applicable law.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
AACN reserves the right to make changes to our Privacy Policy at any time and for any reason without prior notice. Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted on this page so that you are always aware of our policies. We may also contact you by email with changes.
Comments and Questions
If you have any questions or concerns regarding our Website or Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@aacnnursing.org or American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 655 K Street, NW, 750, Washington, DC 20001.
We are committed to working with you to obtain a fair resolution of any complaint or concern about privacy. If, however, you believe that we have not been able to assist with your complaint or concern, you may have the right to make a complaint to the data protection authority of your country of residence.