Provo university seeks accreditation

PROVO — Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions is being considered for accreditation by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

Over the next five years, Rocky Mountain will undergo two reviews by the commissioners. If it passes the reviews with good marks, the private, for-profit school will be accredited as a doctoral-level university.

Accreditation provides a stamp of approval that means the school has undergone a rigorous process of studying its weaknesses and strengths. Once a school receives accreditation, students can quality for federal student loans.

Rocky Mountain, 1662 W. 820 North, offers a master's degree in health science and 10 doctorate degrees for people who are licensed in medical professions. The degrees range from a doctorate of science in Clinical Electrophysiology to a doctorate in Occupational Therapy.

Programs take from one to 3 1/2 years to complete and cost $12,000 to $28,000.

The school was founded in the 1990s by Richard Nielsen, a Navy physical therapist who returned to his native Utah Valley after retirement. Classes began in 1999.

"Our students fly in from different parts of the country," Nielsen said. "Our faculty fly in from different parts of the country. Our concept was, let's bring in the best faculty and our students can benefit from their knowledge."

The majority of the students work at hospitals or clinics and seek advanced degrees for professional advancement or because they believe it will help them improve in their current jobs, said Jessica Egbert, vice president of student services.

The school recruits students at professional association meetings. School administrators also buy medical licensure lists from several states and send mailers to people on the lists.

Only about 1.5-percent of the student body lives in Utah.

"Utah and Washington won't sell their licensure lists," Egbert said.

The majority of Rocky Mountain's students come from New York, California and Illinois, places with large populations and shortages in medical professions such as nursing.

Students and faculty meet in Provo typically for one week about four times a year. In between, they send in assignments.

Students do research at labs located at their hospitals. Their research has been published in peer-reviewed medical journals, said Stan Smith, the school's director of marketing.

If their program requires a dissertation, they can select committee members from anywhere in the United States. They have to have one committee member present when they defend the dissertation. The other members can participate by teleconference.

Smith said that 315 students have graduated from the school and there are currently 263 active students.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com