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June 28, 2007

Gerontology graduate program receives national accreditation; first in the U.S.

The long-term care concentration of the gerontology graduate program at the University of Louisiana at Monroe is now the first in the U.S. to be nationally accredited. The program was recently accredited by the National Association of Boards of Examiners of Long Term Care Administrators (NAB).

The NAB Board of Governors grants accreditation to institutions that meet NAB's criteria for top-quality education and training of long term care administrators. Upon the unanimous recommendation of the site review team and the unanimous recommendation of the NAB Education Committee, the NAB Board of Governors voted unanimously to grant accreditation to the ULM gerontology program’s online and traditional long-term care concentration of the M.A. degree in gerontology.

Of this outstanding accomplishment, James Bulot, head of the Department of Gerontology, Sociology and Political Science, said, “This designation recognizes the excellent work of the faculty and students in the gerontology program. Not only do our local students benefit from National Accreditation, but those students enrolled in Texas, New York, and the rest of the United States know their education is on par with the best universities and accepted by the NAB accrediting body across the country. They can readily sit for licensure just about anywhere.”

The recent accreditation will increase opportunities for students, said Dale Welch, internship coordinator and professor of gerontology. “It will make it easier for our students to seek administrator-in-training (AIT) opportunities in more areas. It should increase the marketability of our students in areas that are seeking administrators with higher degrees,” he said. “We are deeply indebted to the many area nursing home administrators and corporate staff in their support of our program by providing the AIT placements for our students. The AIT is the final segment of our degree that students must complete prior to taking the state and national licensure exams.”

More about ULM’s gerontology program:

Recognized by the Louisiana Board of Regents as a “Unique Area of Excellence in Higher Education,” ULM’s gerontology program is known as the leader in the field of gerontology. ULM was the first Louisiana university to offer a center on aging (now called the Institute of Gerontology), the first to develop formal coursework in gerontology and the first to offer an undergraduate minor and a post-baccalaureate certificate in gerontology and the M.A. degree in gerontology. In 1992, ULM became the first--and is still the only university in Louisiana--to offer a graduate degree in gerontology.

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