UNE College of Pharmacy on track for accreditation in 2013; meets all 30 criteria in 2012 ACPE Report
The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), the national agency for the accreditation of professional degree programs in pharmacy, announced June 28th that the University of New England College of Pharmacy candidate status has been successfully extended to June 30, 2013.
The report results were shared with UNE following ACPE's Board of Directors meeting held June 20-24 in Chicago.
Dean Gayle Brazeau, Ph.D., says, "I am pleased to announce that the UNE College of Pharmacy has met all 30 standards in the 2012 ACPE report, and by attaining candidate status, is on track toward full accreditation in 2013 and our mission of educating pharmacists for your team."
Accreditation Process
A critical component of opening a new college of pharmacy is attaining the various levels of accreditation necessary at the appropriate time in the college‚ academic program development. The first step in the three-step process, precandidate status, was granted to the UNE College of Pharmacy by the ACPE Board of Directors in June 2009, and permitted UNE to admit its inaugural class to the Doctor of Pharmacy program in September 2009.
The College's application for candidate status was acted upon favorably by the ACPE Board of Directors in June 2010 and 2011, and the 2012 evaluation reaffirms that the UNE College of Pharmacy continues to make successful progress.
The final step in the accreditation process is the granting of full ACPE accreditation for the Doctor of Pharmacy Program after UNE's inaugural class graduates in May 2013.
In addition, the Office of Continuing Education within UNE's College of Pharmacy was granted provider status from ACPE in 2011, making it the first accredited provider of continuing pharmacy education in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
"We are fortunate to continue to attract exceptional faculty members in the pharmaceutical, clinical and social-administrative sciences to our program from throughout the United States," says Brazeau. "Their expertise benefits our students, the next generation of Maine's - and our region's - leading scientists, practitioners, and educators."
About University of New England
The University of New England is an innovative health sciences university grounded in the liberal arts. UNE has internationally recognized scholars in the liberal arts, sciences, health and medicine; offers more than 40 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs; and is home to Maine's only medical school. Its two distinctive campuses in Biddeford and Portland, Maine offer student-centered interprofessional programs in the College of Pharmacy, Westbrook College of Health Professions, College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Arts and Sciences, and College of Graduate Studies. The College of Dental Medicine will enroll its inaugural class in 2013.