The Arkansas Colleges of Health Education will begin accepting applications to its School of Physical Therapy on July 1.
“This is one more move to fulfill our mission of training competent and compassionate health care professionals. This program will train top-quality physical therapists, which are in growing demand due to our aging population,” ACHE CEO Kyle Parker said in a news release.
Classes are expected to begin on June 1, 2021, with a class size of 40 students.
Dean Teressa Brown added, “I am thrilled to be overseeing the development of this innovative program in the new, beautiful, state-of-the-art College of Health Sciences building on the ACHE campus. We are passionate about physical therapy education and I believe this program and this space demonstrates that.”
The three-year program is focused on hands-on, clinical experience. Students will graduate with a Doctor of Physical Therapy.
“Our students will actually begin to engage in direct patient care as early as the second semester under faculty supervision,” Brown said. “By the time they go into their full-time, off-site clinical residency, ACHE PT students will already have six semesters and 100 hours of direct patient experience.”
“Our students will experience cutting-edge technology and interactive lectures and learning environments taught by an outstanding faculty,” she added.
More than 50 clinical rotation sites have been established in Arkansas and Oklahoma to serve as residency locations for the students. Faculty will include 12 full-time professors as well as several local clinicians who will work as lab instructors.
