The Doctor of Pharmacy program at the University of Louisiana Monroe is fully accredited through June 2022.
Dr. Glenn Anderson, who began in August 2017 as Dean of the College of Health & Pharmaceutical Sciences, initiated policies and methods to correct these issues before he even arrived in Monroe.
ULM Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Eric Pani said, "Our vision statement on the strategic plan is for ULM to be recognized in the top 200 universities in the nation for excellence in teaching research and innovation, with an emphasis on the health sciences."
Accreditation is granted through an agency that develops evaluation criteria and conducts evaluations to assess whether those criteria are met. Probation status is given when the agency has concerns about compliance with its criteria.
At the June 2017 meeting of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, the ULM Doctor of Pharmacy program was reassigned from Accredited to Accredited with Probation. The change in status is only to the Doctor of Pharmacy program. Pharmacy students and faculty were provided this information by email in July 2017 and the requisite notification was placed on the ULM web site.
The temporary reassignment is not regarding educational standards, but based on issues largely related to budget constraints which began in 2008. In response to continued budget cuts, ULM reduced its administrative costs by combining two colleges into one with the ACPE’s full knowledge.
This consolidation was one of the factors that led to ULM’s rank as second in fiscal stability among all public institutions in the state per the Louisiana Board of Regent’s evaluation process at that budget time. ULM is now reallocating existing funds to address challenges.
President Nick J. Bruno commented on the decision by stating: “The School of Pharmacy continues to produce the finest professionals in the field. The Pharm.D. accreditation issues are based on administrative, budgetary and hiring challenges which are being corrected. I am confident that the probation qualifier will be removed very soon.”
Two out of 25 standards were cited for being non-compliant and two for being partially compliant.
The probation is based on issues with standards related to: organization and governance, financial resources, interprofessional education, and faculty and staff-quantitative factors.
Leaders from the School of Pharmacy appeared before the ACPE in January to present all of the changes that have been implemented, the restructuring that is in place, and a plan that will return the school to full compliance in the future. An on-campus visit by ACPE staff and board members will occur in April.
