HU SCHOOL OF PHARMACY RECEIVES NATIONAL ACCREDITATION

Hampton, VA - On July 1, the Hampton University School of Pharmacy was granted full accreditation status from the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE). ACPE is the national agency for the accreditation of professional degree programs in pharmacy and providers of continuing pharmaceutical education.

The essential purpose of the accreditation process is to provide a professional judgment of the quality of a college or school of pharmacy's professional program(s) and to encourage continued improvement thereof.

"We have known from the very beginning that we have a wonderful School of Pharmacy that was using cutting-edge technology and producing a good product in our students," said Dr. Arcelia Johnson-Fannin, dean of the HU School of Pharmacy. "By receiving accreditation we have validated these facts for the public at large."

The HU School of Pharmacy opened its doors in 1998 and granted its first degrees in May 2002. The School offers an innovative entry-level professional program leading to the doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Hampton University is the only institution in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia to offer a degree in pharmacy. The goal of the HU School of Pharmacy is to encourage minority pharmacists to go back to their medically undeserved communities and to achieve definitive outcomes from medication use that improve their patients' quality of life. The School also has special accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Johnson-Fannin said that accreditation by ACPE assures students that the HU School of Pharmacy is at a level that is standard in the profession of pharmacy. Also for students to sit for the pharmacy licensure exam they must graduate from an accredited school.

"We started this school with the future in mind," said Johnson-Fannin. We were able from the very beginning to do what established schools are not yet able to do."