Misericordia University

Programs: Misericordia university is a catholic, liberal arts-based, co-educational university founded in 1924 and it is sponsored by the religious sisters of mercy. The university offers undergraduate and graduate programs to resident and commuter students who can choose from majors in three distinct academic colleges. The college of arts and sciences offers major degree programs in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, clinical laboratory science, computer science, english, government, law and national security, history, mathematics, medical and health humanities, philosophy, psychology, and statistics as well as a number of minor degree programs. Specializations in pre-law (english, history, medical and health humanities, philosophy), pre-professional (biochemistry, chemistry), pre-dpt (biochemistry, biology, medical and health humanities), secondary education certification (biology, chemistry, english, mathematics), and citizenship certification in history. The college of health sciences & education offers major degree programs in diagnostic medical sonography, early childhood & special education, health science, medical imaging, medical science, mid-level education, nursing bsn, rn-bsn, and social work, as well as a minor degree program in addictions counseling and gerontology. Certification programs are available in addictions counseling, autism spectrum disorders, diagnostic medical sonography, geriatric care manager, health informatics, post masters family nurse practitioner, picture archiving & communication systems administrator, patient navigation, reading specialist, and post-professional pediatric. The college of health sciences & education offers entry level professional master of science degrees in education, health informatics, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, and speech-language pathology; a post-professional master of science degree in occupational therapy; and post professional doctorial degrees in physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, and nursing education. The college of business offers major degree programs in accounting, business administration, health care management, information technology, mass communication and design, professional studies, and sports management along with a number of minor degree programs. Specialization in pre-dpt includes health care management. Graduate programs include business administration and organizational management. The university is regionally accredited by the middle states commission on higher education. Other accrediting agencies recognizing the university include the accreditation council for occupational therapy education, commission on accreditation in physical therapy education, commission on accreditation of allied health education programs (caahep), commission on collegiate nursing education, council on academic accreditation in audiology and speech-language pathology of the american speech-language hearing association, council on social work education, international assembly for collegiate business education (iacbe), pennsylvania department of education, and the joint review committee on education in radiologic technology. Also, misericordia university has legal permission from the pennsylvania state board of nurse examiners to operate a school of nursing in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. The master's degree in education offered by misericordia university is fully approved by the pennsylvania department of education. The master's degree in nursing is fully accredited by the commission on collegiate nursing education (ccne) of the american association of colleges of nursing (aacn). The professional master's degree program in occupational therapy is fully accredited by the accreditation council for occupational therapy education. The entry level program in physical therapy is fully accredited by the commission on accreditation of physical therapy education, american physical therapy association. The transition doctor of physical therapy program (tdpt) and the occupational therapy doctoral program (otd) are fully approved by the pennsylvania department of education. The master's degree in business administration and the master's degree in organizational management have accreditation by the international assembly for collegiate business education. The professional master's degree program in speech-language pathology at misericordia university is accredited by the council on academic accreditation in audiology and speech-language pathology (caa), american speech-language-hearing association. The accreditation review commission on education for the physician assistant (the "arc-pa") has accepted misericordia university's plan to voluntarily withdraw from the arc-pa accreditation process effective august 30, 2017. The following statement is provided by arc-pa: "misericordia university has applied for accreditation-provisional from the accreditation review commission on education for the physician assistant (arc-pa). Misericordia university anticipates matriculating its first class in july 2018, pending achieving accreditation-provisional status at the march 2018 arc-pa meeting. Accreditation -provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program's ability to meet the arc-pa standards or when a program holding accreditation-provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students. The misericordia university's physician assistant studies program will not commence in the event that provisional accreditation is not received. "the total headcount for fall 2016 included 2,879 students.