TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — University officials are hoping a plan submitted to an accrediting agency will allow the school to once again begin enrolling students into a very successful program in 2025.
According to the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), Indiana State University’s Physician Assistant program has been placed on probation as of September 2023.
Indiana State Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost, Christopher Olsen said that the probationary status is due to the number of faculty assigned to the program being too low for the number of students in the program.
“The accrediting agency’s decision rested primarily on what they perceived to be a short-term deficit in the number of full-time faculty needed to sustain the program long-term,” Olsen said.
Additionally, the ARC-PA reportedly wanted the school to create a more complete Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion plan.
“We’re working on both of these primary issues, including the recent launch of a search for a new full-time faculty member and completion of a revised DEI plan,” Olsen said. “Our initial response was submitted to the accreditors on Feb. 1 and we are awaiting their response.”
The ARC-PA describes probation for the accreditation for these programs as follows;
Accreditation-Probation is a temporary accreditation status initially of not less than two years. However, that period may be extended by the ARC-PA for up to an additional two years if the ARCPA finds that the program is making substantial progress toward meeting all applicable Standards but requires additional time to come into full compliance. Probation accreditation status is granted, at the sole discretion of the ARC-PA, when a program holding an accreditation status of Accreditation – Provisional or Accreditation – Continued does not, in the judgment of the ARC-PA, meet the Standards or when the capability of the program to provide an acceptable educational experience for its students is threatened. Once placed on probation, a program that fails to comply with accreditation requirements in a timely manner, as specified by the ARC-PA, may be scheduled for a focused site visit and is subject to having its accreditation withdrawn.
As a result of the action taken by ARC-PA, the university was unable to enroll a new cohort of students into the class for the current semester. While the formal review of the probation is scheduled for September 2025, Olsen says the hope is that the school will be able to begin enrolling new students into the program in January of 2025.
“Our interpretation of the timeline is that programs in the probationary period may enroll new cohorts if approved by ARC-PA,” Olsen said. “That is the decision we are currently waiting on, which would apply to the planned-for January 2025 cohort.”
“We don’t have a firm timeline for when they will get back to us,” Olsen said. “I would emphasize that the accreditors had no issues with our student outcomes (which continue to be outstanding), and graduates of the PA program are very successful.”
