At its December 2-4, 2016 meeting, AOTA’s Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE®) reviewed the Report of On-Site Evaluation (ROSE) regarding the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program at Villa Maria College, and voted to grant a Status of Accreditation for a period of 5 years. Many members of the Villa community assisted with the accreditation process, and it was headed by OTA Program Director Paula Santacroce-Velarde, Clinical Fieldwork Coordinator Lynn Marie Witt, and Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Ryan Hartnett.
According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA®) website, accreditation has been a stated function of the organization since 1923. AOTA’s Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE®) is recognized as the accrediting agency for occupational therapy education by both the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). ACOTE is also an active member of the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA).
ACOTE currently accredits 389 occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant educational programs in the United States and its territories.
To learn more about AOTA, visit www.aota.org.
To learn more about Villa’s newly-accredited OTA progrm, visit https://www.villa.edu/academics/academic-programs/occupational-therapy-assistant.
