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The mission of the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education
is to advance excellence in midwifery education.
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Call to Action:
Know of someone who is passionate about midwifery education and interested in serving on a dynamic Board?
The Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME) seeks a public member to serve on its Board of Commissioners (BOC). The BOC is the ACME governing board which plans, implements, and evaluates the accreditation process for programs offering midwifery education. Public member representation is necessary for effective operation of the BOC. A public member is not a midwife, and one who shall not derive any income from midwifery related sources. For a full job description and qualifications visit, http://www.midwife.org/ACME-Volunteer-Opportunities. If you know of someone who might be a fit please reach out to them and encourage them to apply.
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A Message from ACME
Board of Commissioners Chair,
Peter Johnson
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Happy last days of summer on behalf of our Board of Commissioners. I want to thank our excellent staff, our site visitors and our Board of Review members for their efforts during this incredibly busy quarter. I want to give a particularly loud shout out to Julie Levin for managing this year’s annual reporting cycle so effectively. We recognize that this is a challenging time of year for programs and ACME, and as always, looks forward to feedback from Program Directors on how to continue to improve service to our customers.
ACME was pleased to provide support to the Liberian Nurses and Midwives Board and Directors of their accredited midwifery education programs during the ACNM Annual Meeting in Albuquerque. Six Liberian midwifery leaders, along with representatives from the Georgetown and University of Michigan programs participated in a workshop aimed at describing accreditation best practices in our country. This activity was a major first step in a USAID funded project aimed at strengthening midwifery education as part of global post Ebola response efforts. These efforts on our part are consistent with ACME's mission to advance excellence in midwifery education and our strategic objective to provide fee based expert consultation to projects supporting global health workforce development through education and regulation.
I wish everyone a great start to their fall semesters and offer the warmest welcome to all of our new midwifery students!
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Peter G. Johnson, CNM, PhD, FACNM
Chair, ACME Board of Commissioners
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Gretchen G. Mettler, CNM, PhD, FACNM
Chair, ACME Board of Review
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ACME Board of Review Chair,
Gretchen Mettler's Message
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Greetings from the Board of Review (BOR):
I am pleased to announce the newest member of the BOR, Michelle (Shelli) Collins, PhD, CNM, FACNM. Please read her biography below and join me in welcoming her to the BOR.
The BOR met on July 14, 2016 for our second scheduled meeting of the year. Please note the following decisions:
NOTICE OF ACCREDITATION ACTION
July 14, 2016
Accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) are required to notify regional accreditors, selected specialized accreditors, and state licensing agencies responsible for post-secondary education of final accreditation decisions. In addition, the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME) also provides notice of its accreditation decisions to the public on its website (
http://www.midwife.org/ACME-Accreditation-Action-Notices).
In accordance with 34 CFR §602.26(a), the notice of the BOR actions was sent to the USDE on August 15, 2016.
Continued Programmatic Accreditation (through July 2026)
- East Carolina University, College of Nursing, Nurse-Midwifery Program - Master of Science (MS) and Post-Graduate Certificate
- Emory University, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Nurse-Midwifery Program - Master of Science (MS) and Post-Graduate Certificate
- University of Utah, College of Nursing, Nurse-Midwifery Program – Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Post-Graduate Certificate
Substantive Change
- Emory University, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Nurse-Midwifery Program – added a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), accredited through July 2026
- SUNY Stony Brook University, School of Nursing, Nurse-Midwifery Program – added a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), accredited through February 2018
Adverse Action
Withdrawal of Accreditation
- University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Public Health, Nurse-Midwifery Program – Voluntarily withdrew accreditation and will close the program effective as of November 1, 2016
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ACME BOR Welcomes
Michelle Collins
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The ACME BOR is excited to welcome
Michelle Collins
,
PhD, CNM, FACNM.
Michelle is a Professor and Director of the Nurse-Midwifery education program at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. In addition to teaching, research and administration, she maintains an active clinical practice as part of the School of Nursing faculty nurse-midwifery practice. Particular interests include: cervical dysplasia diagnosis and management, nitrous oxide analgesia for labor/birth, water immersion for labor and birth, and umbilical cord blood potential. In October 2016, she will be inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing.
Welcome Michelle and thank you for participating in the July BOR meeting.
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ACME Prepares for U.S. Department of Education Review
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ACME has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (under 'Health Care') as a programmatic accrediting agency for midwifery education programs since 1982. The Secretary of the Department recognizes accrediting agencies to ensure they are, for the purposes of the Higher Education Act of 1965, reliable authorities regarding the quality of education or training offered by the institutions or programs they accredit.
Every five years ACME seeks continued recognition from the Department. In the spring of 2017, ACME will be up for our periodic review. I am working diligently to prepare our petition and exhibits. Let me say, I have a deeper understanding of what ACME Program Directors experience when they are up for periodic review and the sheer amount of work that goes into preparing a program’s self-evaluation review and site visit.
It is my hope and goal to work with the Commissioners and Board of Review to continue to streamline ACME’s accreditation processes and reduce a program’s burden during a periodic review. Next year, ACME will be conducting a full review of the the pre/accreditation criteria and related policies. We will be soliciting your feedback and input. In the fall of this year, please be on a look out for an announcement for volunteers to assist us in this process.
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Heather L. Maurer, MA
Executive Director, ACME
hmaurer@acnm.org
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Recent News & Headlines
Lab trains midwife, OB/GYN students - (
The East Carolinian, August 29, 2016) "Becky Bagley, director of the nurse-midwifery education program in the ECU College of Nursing, said the skills labs are important for giving students practice opportunities."
From the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA) Digest:
House Committee Approves Five Bills in Move Toward Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act,
June 22, 2016
The House Education and the Workforce Committee voted to approve five higher education measures focused on improving the financial aid process, enhancing consumer information and strengthening federal programs that support the work of minority-serving institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
Together these bills represent a bipartisan step forward in the ongoing process of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA). Since the original HEA was created in 1965, the sweeping law governing federal higher education programs has been rewritten eight separate times. The current HEA was set to expire at the end of 2013 but has now been extended through 2016 while Congress works on the next re-authorization.
ACE and 20 other higher education associations sent a letter to the committee in advance of the vote, writing that they “appreciate the sponsors" efforts to help students and their families and are eager to collaborate with them to improve these bills and strike the appropriate balance in meeting those goals.” The bills include:
The Simplifying the Application for Student Aid Act (H.R. 5528), which is designed to ease the process of applying for federal student aid and give prospective students a clearer idea of the aid they are eligible for much earlier in the process. The bill would allow students to apply for financial aid based on their family’s income from two years earlier instead of the immediately previous year, a long-sought approach known as “prior-prior year.” This means that the financial aid process would be changed so that students can submit their FAFSA form as early as October for the academic year beginning in the following summer or fall, codifying into law an initiative the Obama administration announced last fall. The bill also contains several other common-sense adjustments to the application process without imposing additional burden on institutions.
The HBCU Capital Financing Improvement Act (H.R. 5530), which is intended to improve access to and oversight of an existing program that enables HBCUs to improve their campuses to better serve their students. As currently drafted, this bill would make targeted changes to the program that are critical to these institutions and their historically under-served students. The associations wrote that they “look forward to working with the committee to strengthen the bill through the inclusion of additional improvements to enhance the overall effectiveness of the program.”
The (H.R. 5529) Accessing Higher Education Opportunities Act would expand the allowable use of HEA Title V funds to help students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions pursue a career as a physician, dentist, or other health care professional and enhance existing support for Hispanic students pursuing their education. The final two bills—
the Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act (H.R. 3178)
and
The Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act (H.R. 3179)—would help students make more informed decisions about where to pursue their education and how to manage their federal financial aid. While the groups are strongly supportive of the goals of these bills, elements of both measures are complex and likely to be difficult and expensive to implement. During the hearing, ranking member Bobby Scott (D-VA) and several committee members urged quick work on a full-scale HEA bill, but said these measures were a step in the right direction. They likely will be taken up by the full House sometime this year—possibly as soon as next week—but are not expected to be considered by the Senate.
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Midwifery Education Factoid
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment rates for nurse-midwives will grow by 31% from 2012 to 2022, much faster than the average for all occup
ations and attributes this growth primarily to the effect of health care legislation and an increased emphasis on preventative health care.
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For ACME Program Directors
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Leaving Your Program?
Going on Sabbatical?
Please remember to inform the ACME Administrative Office of any changes to your contact information and if your leaving your position as Program Director.
In addition, inform the ACME Administrative Office
if there will be any extended absences and
of who should be contacted during the time away from your office. Email Heather Maurer with your updates: hmaurer@acnm.org.
Share your Program's Photos and Recent News:
If your program is featured in a news article or publication we want to hear about it. We are also interested in featuring photos of your students and midwifery program. Please contact ACME Executive Director, Heather Maurer at
hmaurer@acnm.org for more details.
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2017 Deadlines & Due Dates
Please mark your calendars
February 2017 - Annual Invoices
ACME will be sending an email survey requesting information to accurately create your annual invoice. The updated invoice fee schedule will be available and announced in January 2017. All invoices will be sent via email to Program Directors in March and are due 45 days from the date of the invoice.
Please provide your institution ample time to have the appropriate institution paperwork (W-2 forms) prepared and completed to avoid any late fees.
Payments that are not received by the due date on the invoice will be assessed a late.
March 2017 - Annual Monitoring Reports (AMRs)
On March 13, 2017, ACME will be sending via Survey Monkey an email requesting you complete the Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) for the reporting period of January 1 - December 31, 2016.
AMRs will be due
Friday, April 14, 2017.
Also be o
n the look out for webinar invites to review the AMR process and details about the requirements.
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Accreditation and Competency-Based Education (by Judith Eaton in
The Journal of Competency-Based Education, April 27, 2016) “The current increased emphasis on CBE is resulting in institutions and programs taking fresh approaches to their academic activity. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) sought to learn more about how the increased emphasis was affecting institutional and programmatic accreditation.”
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