Because of a need established by the Northwest Educational Outreach Network project, a former FIPSE project, the NEXus project was created in 2004 to increase the capacity of existing doctoral programs through sharing existing and creating new academic resources. This project is designed to create partnerships between programs, but does not seek to create a single doctoral program serving all Western states. A consortium of Oregon Health & Science University, University of Colorado Denver, University of Northern Colorado, and University of Utah was established to carry through the goals of the NEXus project of increasing capacity via distance-accessible courses.
Currently NEXus consists of seven institutions which provide distance-accessible courses for students. New courses are being developed.