Reaccreditation Process in Full Swing
Greetings to all the School of Pharmacy Badgers around the state, the nation and the world! Fall semester is in full swing with the welcome of our new BS, PharmD, MS, and PhD students who bring such richness to the School and our programs.
As usual, we are engaged in numerous activities this fall spanning all aspects of our academic mission. In particular and of special importance to our professional program is the reaccreditation process.
All schools and colleges of pharmacy engage in this process every six years as governed by our accreditation agency, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). This activity involves an intense, 12-18 month self-study process that takes a look at every aspect of the PharmD degree program and gives us an opportunity for honest introspection and reflection about what we¡¯re doing, why we¡¯re doing it, how we¡¯re doing it, and how well we¡¯re doing it. Strengths and weaknesses are identified, along with an action plan for improvement. Ron Burnette (Pharmaceutical Sciences), Barry Gidal (Pharmacy Practice), and Dave Mott (Social and Administrative Sciences) make up the leadership team.
The self-study is focused around a set of eight ¡°standards,¡± concerned with mission, planning and assessment; organization and administration; students; curriculum; faculty; library and learning resources; physical and practice resources; and financial resources. We've organized the process into eight subcommittees chaired by Jeanine Mount, Al Hanson, Kathy Skibinski, Ron Sorkness/Curt Johnson, Warren Heideman, Gerri Wanserski/Mike Pitterle, Dan Rich/Mara Kieser, and Tim Gossens, respectively. Many other faculty, staff and students round out the membership of the subcommittees. These groups have been hard at work collecting and analyzing data, digging through records and shaping reports in each area. These reports are the subject of a series of Self-Study Forums, geared to collect feedback and suggestions. Other groups involved are several standing committees of the School, the Board of Visitors (BOV), the Student Senate, and the Pharmacy Alumni Association (PAA) Board. The self-study document as a whole will then be reviewed and refined by the Self-Study Steering Committee composed of the leadership team, the subcommittee chairs, a representative from the BOV (Greeta Cherayil), two members of the PAA Board (Bob Breslow and Rocky LaDien) and a student representative (Justin Konkol). Outstanding staff support is provided by Rhonda Coyier and Larry Mindel. The final version will be presented to the faculty and academic staff for approval in December and the whole thing shipped in to ACPE in early 2006.
The final step involves an on-site evaluation in April by an external peer review team that formulates recommendations for ACPE. The final decision about accreditation is made by their Board of Directors at their June meeting. The optimal result would be reaccreditation for a full six-year period; shorter time periods with interim reporting is not terribly uncommon if a particular issue is uncovered that needs extensive attention.
Many thanks to all those involved as we strive to make the PharmD program the best it can possibly be. Stay tuned for more news about accreditation!
Enjoy the newsletter and keep that Badger spirit alive and well!