By Heather Johnson
The Florida A&M University (FAMU) School of Allied Health Sciences has announced that the Master ofHealth Administration (MHA) program has received initial accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME).
“I am proud of the extensive efforts on the part of the faculty of the Division of Health Care Management that led to the initial accreditation of the MHA program,” said Cynthia Hughes-Harris, Ph.D., dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences. “As a result of this action, our graduates are now eligible for fellowships and residencies that are reserved only for graduates of CAHME accredited programs.”
The accreditation process is based on four, broad criteria that address all aspects of program delivery. The criteria considered for full accreditation are listed below.
- Criterion I: Program mission, values, vision, goals and support
- Criterion II: Students and graduates
- Criterion III: Curriculum
- Criterion IV: Faculty teaching, scholarship and service
Collectively, these categories include 35 measures which CAHME evaluates individually. Of the 35 standards, FAMU had no unmet criteria, which is unprecedented for a program seeking initial accreditation.
“CAHME’s mission is to advance the quality of healthcare management education, and achieving this designation represents FAMU has met the criteria and standards as established by leading practitioners and academics,” said Anthony Stanowski, DHA, CAHME president and CEO. “CAHME-accredited programs have successfully navigated a complex and careful accreditation process managed by experts in the study and practice of healthcare management. On behalf of CAHME, I commend the FAMU Healthcare Management Program for its commitment to high-quality healthcare management education.”
CAHME works with more than 100 leading academic programs and numerous healthcare practitioners to ensure graduates entering the healthcare field have undergone an educational process with rigorous, measurable standards for effectiveness. FAMU is the only historically Black college or university (HBCU) with a CAHME-accredited MHA program.
Housed in the division of Health Care Management (HCM), the program is directed by Jullet Davis Weaver, Ph.D., professor and division director of health care management.
“When I became the MHA program director, my primary goal was to work with our faculty and program coordinator to ensure we achieved full accreditation. In addition to receiving the notoriety of being the first HBCU with an accredited MHA program, we also sought to showcase our program’s rigorous academic standards and the extensive training of our students,” said Weaver.
FAMU administrators agreed this latest achievement is indicative of the quality education and career readiness available from its healthcare programs.
“This speaks to the quality of our academic programs, the excellent leadership and vision of the School’s administration team, as well as the talents of Dr. Weaver, the HCM faculty, staff and students,” said Maurice Edington, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs.
For more than 50 years, CAHME has advanced the quality of healthcare management education globally. It is the only organization recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation to grant accreditation to individual academic programs offering a professional master’s degree in healthcare management education.
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