Joan M. Stanley, PFH, CRNP, FAAN, is Senior Director of Education Policy at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Dr. Stanley serves at AACN's representative to the APRN Consensus Process which developed the model for APRN regulation. Dr. Stanley has provided leadership for the development of the Essentials and many major position statements on a variety of nursing education issues, including the Clinical Nurse Leader, the Research-Focused Doctorate, and the move of Advanced Practice Nursing to the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. She has authored numerous articles and texts, including the 2011 Advanced Practice Nursing: Emphasizing Common Roles, 3rd edition. Dr. Stanley held a faculty position, 1977-1982, in the Adult Primary Care NP Program at the University of Maryland. Since 1973, Dr. Stanley has practiced as an ANP at the University of Maryland Medical System. Dr. Stanley received her BSN from Duke University in 1971, an MS in Nursing from the University of Maryland at Baltimore in 1978, and a PhD in Higher Education Policy and Organization from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1990.