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(ATHENS,
Ohio—Nov. 25, 2014) The Ohio University Heritage College of
Osteopathic Medicine emerged from its seven-year accreditation
review with high marks, having met 93 of the 94 standards. The
remaining standard should be met when Ohio University’s ongoing RFP
process to provide on-site security for the Dublin campus is
complete, which is expected to happen before the final accreditation
report is filed at the Commission on Osteopathic College
Accreditation (COCA) meeting in April 2015.
The COCA inspection
team spent the week of Nov. 3 conducting a thorough review of the
Heritage College’s curricula, faculty staffing plan and facilities
in both Athens and Dublin. They shared their findings at a Nov. 7
exit interview, which began and ended with compliments for faculty,
staff and students.
“You don’t know how lucky you are. You have a great team here;
you have a great leader. You have support from the university. You
have a great foundation here supporting you,” COCA Team Chair Ronald
Berezniak, Ph.D., said. “We see nothing but successes, major, major
big pluses coming down the road for you guys.”
During the review, the team met with faculty, students, college
advisory board members, university leadership and representatives
from some CORE sites. It was the students who made the biggest
impression.
“When we talked with the students, we were blown away because
they had nothing negative to say. All we saw was teeth from smiles.
I felt I was in a dental school,” said Berezniak.
The COCA team commended the college for preparing faculty to
teach across multiple sites and for the design and use of digital
services to deliver teaching, research, evaluation and
administration resources. In addition, the committee applauded the
many interprofessional education and research opportunities the
college offers students. They repeatedly said the college has a
great team.
“I wish I could run everyone here through a copy machine and
bring them home with me,” said Berezniak.
Full-site accreditation reviews occur every seven years to ensure
that osteopathic medical schools meet or exceed standards for
educational quality. The Heritage College spent the last year
preparing for the review by creating a self-study team to critically
assess how the college is meeting each COCA standard and how it can
improve the quality of everything it does. In May, the college
underwent a mock review and was given recommendations to enhance the
program.
“To have such a successful accreditation visit takes a tremendous
amount of long-term planning and incredible teamwork across
departments and campuses. Thank you to everyone who invested time
and hard work into making the COCA site visit a resounding success,”
said Heritage College Executive Dean Kenneth H. Johnson, D.O. |
