Recent nursing research has established a relationship between increased educational preparation of the nurse and decreased patient mortality rates (Aiken et al, 2003).  To better meet the demand for bedside nurses with higher levels of educational preparation,    the American Association of Colleges in Nursing (AACN) established the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) role in 2004.  The CNL is a master's prepared nurse generalist, able to provide as well as direct patient care.  The hallmark of the CNL is the ability to implement evidenced based practice at the bedside to improve patient care outcomes. The AACN proposed four educational models of CNL entry into practice. The University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) established the Clinical Nurse Leader Program in Fall 2005 using AACN's Model C, master's entry into practice for the non-nursing baccalaureate nurse.  Students admitted to the CNL program have a wide variety of educational and work experiences. As adult learners, they learn best when effective adult learning strategies are utilized. At UMSON, the CNL student is introduced to evidenced based practice in the first semester of their academic program through a four-session module in their Introduction to Nursing Practice course.  This presentation will discuss strategies for introducing the CNL student to evidenced based practice using adult learning principles.  Effective strategies included identifying an area of personal interest for a search, team teaching with the librarian, inviting nurse researchers to class, and student presentations. Students were evaluated on the quality of their presentation. Currently, seventy-one (71) CNL students have taken the evidenced based practice module utilizing adult learning principles.  One hundred percent  (100%) of students passed the evidenced based practice module the first time. Informal evaluation indicated an increased understanding of the evidenced based process and improved oral presentation skills.