Schools

FAMU pharmacy school gets accreditation back

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER, Times Staff Writer
Published January 15, 2008

Florida A&M University's worries lightened a bit Monday when an accrediting agency decided to take the vaunted College of Pharmacy off probation and renew its accreditation through June 2010.

The college, the nation's largest producer of black pharmacy degrees, had been on probation for nearly a year because of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education's 21 concerns over curriculum, teaching facilities and faculty staffing levels.

FAMU has tried but failed so far to get state money to expand its pharmacy facilities, and president James Ammons has pledged he'll keep trying. As soon as he arrived as FAMU's 10th president in July, Ammons named former pharmacy college dean Henry Lewis III to return to the long-vacant post. Ammons promised pharmacy faculty members and students that Lewis was the best person to lead the college through its accreditation woes.

Lewis said Monday that the reaccreditation reflects "the tremendous hard work of the faculty, staff and student body."

"One of my main priorities during my first 150 days as president was to make sure that the college had what it needed for probation to be lifted," Ammons said. "As a result of this action, our administrators, faculty and staff in the College of Pharmacy can focus more of their attention on continuing its legacy of producing outstanding graduates this field."

[Last modified January 14, 2008, 23:31:06]