By Alyssa Abrams, Reporter
Edited by Chloe Vereen, Editor
Berry College is planning to add a new physician’s assistant (PA) program with the hope of enrolling the first class in 2025.
Once accredited, Berry College will offer a two-year, 127-credit hour PA program, joining 303 schools nationwide in offering a graduate medical educational program. According to aapa.org physician assistants “are licensed clinicians who practice medicine in every specialty setting.”
When asked about why Berry wanted to begin a PA Program, director Victoria Galloway spoke about the relationship between Berry’s culture and the PA profession.
“The Berry culture is so in line with the PA profession,” Galloway said. “Berry tenants are very mission-driven and founded on what you can do to help the community, and so the PA profession started that way and still follows those tenants just in the medical model.”
Before acceptance of the first class in 2025, Berry College will have to be accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). ARC-PA is the only agency in America that accredits PA programs and must approve the college for Accreditation-Provisional status for the program to begin.
The Dean of the Charter School of Education and Human Sciences, Alan Hughes, explained the process of the approval.
“We’ve had to check certain boxes along the way… You have to do [all] that and get the sub change approved before you apply for provisional accreditation, and our application for provisional accreditation will be submitted next May 2024,” Hughes said.
The “sub-change” mentioned by Hughes, otherwise known as a substantive change approval, is granted by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Hughes explained that SACSCOC sits as Berry’s accreditor and must be notified of any large changes Berry College makes to the campus that depart from normal operations.
Aside from the accreditation, there are limited challenges expected by the PA program staff. Dr. Robert King, the area clinical education director for the PA program noted that the Berry culture may be a slight challenge for the students entering the program.
“Berry is unique, and you have to want it,” King said. “Not only does Berry have to be accepting of PA students, but PA students have to be accepting of Berry.”
The uniqueness of the Berry culture was also acknowledged by Galloway when discussing the possibility of competition being a challenge the college may face as one of 303 PA programs nationwide.
“There is a little bit of a competitive element there, but each of the programs is just a little bit different,” Galloway said. “Our unique spin is going to be with the Berry culture.”
Berry is expected to break ground for a new Health Sciences Building in 2024 to house the PA program. Overall, the college seems to be on track to admit the first class of PA students in 2025.
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