COLLEGE OF PHARMACY NEWS [BACK TO NEWS INDEX]

News release (July 3, 2013)

Manchester University College of Pharmacy’s Doctor of Pharmacy program has been granted Candidate status by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, 2135 South LaSalle Street, Suite 4100, Chicago, IL 60503; 312-644-3575; FAX 312-664-4652; website www.acpe-accredit.org. Click here for further details about this accreditation.

Sumer Hussein, Class of 2016, discusses medications at a Fort Wayne Walgreen's with Ahmed
Abdelmageed, associate director of experiential education.

Manchester's Doctor of Pharmacy program
receives “candidate accreditation"

Manchester University’s four-year professional doctor of pharmacy program in Fort Wayne has earned candidate accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).

For students enrolled at the College of Pharmacy – and those considering a career in pharmacy – official candidate recognition by the ACPE is an affirmation that the Manchester University program is expected to mature into a fully accredited program.

“This is tremendous news,” said Pharmacy Dean Dave McFadden, executive vice president for Manchester University. “This means that our first graduates in spring 2016 will qualify to take state Board of Pharmacy exams to obtain licenses to practice.”

Candidate accreditation gives graduates of the College of Pharmacy the same rights and privileges as graduates of fully accredited programs. License to practice pharmacy, however, is the authority of the pertinent state boards of pharmacy.

“The commitment and hard work and of our faculty, staff and students, and enthusiastic support from the northeast Indiana health care community and Lilly Endowment Inc. bring us to this milestone,” said MU President Jo Young Switzer.

“Our rigorous Doctor of Pharmacy program is taught by pharmacy educators and administrators who have created an innovative curriculum that prepares students to be integral members of the health care team.”

Manchester continues to work toward ACPE "full accreditation" in 2016. That status would mean the College of Pharmacy’s curriculum and training meet rigorous professional standards and that MU had graduated its first Pharm.D. class.

Students in the Class of 2016 completed their first year of classes in May in a new $20 million facility on the north edge of Fort Wayne designed especially for training professional pharmacists.

More than 450 qualified students from across the nation applied for the 73 seats in the second class, the Class of 2017. Orientation begins July 30; classes begin Aug. 5 on the north Fort Wayne campus. For more about the MU College of Pharmacy, visit manchester.edu/pharmacy.

The ACPE accredits doctor of pharmacy programs at colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States and at selected non-U.S. sites. For a new doctor of pharmacy program like Manchester’s, ACPE accreditation generally involves three steps: pre-candidate status, candidate status and full accreditation. ACPE conducts extensive reviews and campus visits at each stage.

ACPE awarded pre-candidate accreditation status to the MU Pharm.D. program in February 2012, authorizing Manchester to begin enrolling its first students.