Dental, nursing programs earn accreditation
After months of self-evaluation and preparation, several Citrus College Health Sciences programs received votes of full confidence from state and national accrediting commissions this academic year.
Although the college's registered dental assisting program received their state accreditation renewal in August 2020, the pandemic delayed its national accreditation renewal by three years. After submitting a 95-page self-study and a 580-page document exhibiting proof that all accreditation standards have been met, a two-day on-site visit was conducted in the fall.
In March 2023, the program's faculty and staff received notice that it had once again received national accreditation. Of the 89 state-accredited registered dental assisting programs in California, the Citrus College program is one of only 18 with dual accreditation.
"Having accrediting bodies monitoring what we are teaching, how we are teaching it and at what level our students are learning is a testament to the high standards we are held to," said Dawn Brewster, coordinator of the Citrus College Registered Dental Assisting program. "We take pride in receiving the highest accreditation status — approval without reporting — because it is proof of the hard work the faculty, staff and students put in to be the best they can be."
Similarly, the Citrus College Registered Nursing program received accreditation renewal from the California Board of Registered Nursing and the Citrus College Licensed Vocational Nursing program received accreditation renewal from the California Board of Vocational Nursing during the 2022-2023 academic year.
This spring, accreditation renewal applications for the Citrus College Certified Nursing Assistant and Home Health Aid programs were submitted to the California Department of Public Health. They received news of their accreditation renewal in April.
"Without accreditation renewal of these programs, we cannot offer courses," explains Noemi Barajas, interim director of health sciences at Citrus College. "Our renewals must always be approved and current to offer these programs."
Superintendent/President Schulz says he is grateful for the hard work invested into the accreditation process for each program.
"These excellent results were no doubt made possible by our outstanding faculty and staff," he said. "Their combined efforts have once again established Citrus College Health Sciences programs as being among the best in the region."
This article originally appeared in the June 2023 edition of the Citrus View.