The people that make the decisions — namely the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) — came in and “kicked the tires” on the SLP program at Salus University and discovered the entire educational vehicle is in excellent shape.
And, that means that upon independent evaluation, the program provides a quality education to its students, thereby receiving reaccreditation for a seven-year period.
“They found that our faculty meet the rigors of the profession to make sure our graduates are going to be competent, confident speech pathologists upon graduation from the program,” said Robert Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, FNAP, chair and program director of the SLP program.
The process began with a 175-page report, submitted by program officials in August 2023, which was then reviewed by the CAA. The CAA preliminarily accepted the report, which triggered a site visit. A team of three people from the profession — two academics and a clinical person — came to the Salus University campus in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, for two days in March 2024.
While on-site, the CAA members looked for evidence to support what was written in the University’s SLP report. The CAA looked at the clinical training the program provides for its students and examined the diverse caseload and interventions. In addition, the committee looked at the variety of teaching methods used and how contemporary the program is to the needs of the profession. Finally, the CAA group interviewed members of the Salus administration, program dean and faculty, students, members of the program’s professional advisory board, and community members who accessed clinical services.
“They really do open all the closet doors and kitchen drawers to take a look at what is happening and compare that to what we told them in the report,” said Serianni.
In late July 2024, the program received word from the CAA that it had met the qualifications for reaccreditation. Not only that, but the CAA had no citations for the program and offered no recommendations for improvement. “That clean sheet really says to us internally that we’re doing a good job,” said Serianni.
He added that with an ever-growing and tight market for graduate education in the speech-language pathology profession, Salus wants to make sure to get that clean bill of health from accreditors so when students and families are looking at graduate school opportunities, they’re not questioning the quality of the program or the caliber of the faculty. “The students really are going to get what they need to become the speech pathologist they always dreamed about being,” said Serianni.
He also offered his personal thanks to the faculty, staff and students not only in the SLP department but across the entire University.
“It was an all-hands-on-deck event, and we appreciate the support of our dean, our alumni, and all of the offices that really do impact the ability for us to do the job that we say we want to do,” said Serianni. “To have somebody come in and tell you that you’re doing a good job is a very satisfying feeling.”
