College of Pharmacy lives up to its standards

After a site visit from the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education in early November, Florida A&M University’s College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science is now in compliance with all 30 accreditation standards.

CPPS is expected to receive full accreditation for the next six years.

Prior to the site visit, the college was out of compliance with 19 of the 30 standards made by the ACPE.

In an email, Henry Lewis, dean of CPPS said, “I want to send the highest praises to the college’s faculty, staff and students for rising to the challenge of addressing all of the criteria to meet the new ACPE accreditation standards.”

The site visit team report will be made to the full ACPE board of directors at their meeting on Jan. 11, 2008 in Tampa.

The site team consisted of three council members from the ACPE.

They met with the college’s executive council, curriculum committee, assessment committee, strategic planning committee, experiential program coordinators, division directors, students and faculty.

The team toured all of the college’s facilities, including the library, animal care facility, teaching laboratories, classrooms, offices, student services space and conference facilities.

In addition, the entire team met with University President James H. Ammons and Interim Provost Barbara Barnes.

Hany Edwards, a second year pharmacy candidate from Boca Raton said, “being a pharmacy student representative at the accreditation site visit was very gratifying.”

Edwards said that he is confident that the college of pharmacy will receive full accreditation status at the January 2008 ACPE meeting.

In addition to the college now being in compliance with ACPE standards, graduates from the class of 2006 had a 100 percent passing rate on the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Licensing Examination (NABPLEX).

The NABPLEX is an exam given to students, who have completed an ACPE doctor of pharmacy program and want to receive a license to practice as a doctor of pharmacy.

The college has set the scoring standard for all pharmacy programs across the country.