HU School Of Pharmacy Remains Fully Accredited

Hampton, VA -The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) recently informed the Hampton University Doctor of Pharmacy program that its accreditation has been reaffirmed through June 30, 2011. As a result of this action, the lawsuit filed against ACPE by HU has been dismissed without prejudice.

“The Hampton University School of Pharmacy is committed to maintaining the finest academic environment through faculty development, service-based learning, and scholarly activity,” said Dr. Hugh McLean, dean of the HU School of Pharmacy. “We were confident that reaffirmation of accreditation would be granted.”

In January, ACPE placed the HU program on probation because it had not passed 1 ½ of the 30 standards required by the accrediting agency. HU then filed suit in federal court against ACPE upon learning that other pharmacy programs with as many as eight infractions of the 30 standards received accreditation by ACPE.

In addition, HU’s suit was based on the following:

• According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, over the past four years the average first time passing rate on the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination, for HU graduates was 89.1 percent; this was higher than eight schools that were accredited and approximately equal to seven others.
• The short period of time within which HU was required to address ACPE’s concerns.
• The student/faculty ratio of the HU program (12:1 at that time) was consistent with many other schools that are accredited.

However, since January nine additional faculty members have been hired.

“The new faculty members come from some of the top institutions in the country and have diverse academic and clinical backgrounds, research interests and teaching experiences that they will bring to the teaching and learning environment of the more than 250 students in our program,” McLean said.

McLean also stated that he is looking forward to the upcoming school year and putting the spotlight back on the cutting-edge research being conducted in the HU School of Pharmacy. For example, researchers in the School are currently conducting research to develop a blood test that will enable doctors to diagnose Alzheimer's disease at an earlier stage.