AUB Senior Join School of Nursing in Celebration for BSN and MSN Accreditation

Left to right: President John Waterbury, SON Director Huda Huijer, and VP Nadim Cortas cutting the celebration cake

President John Waterbury, university deans, vice presidents, and senior staff joined, on the afternoon of January 17 in West Hall's Common Room, the School of Nursing director, faculty, and staff in celebration of the accreditation of its bachelor's and master's programs received from the Board of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) in the United States.

CCNE, an autonomous accrediting entity that is officially recognized by the US Secretary of Education and is dedicated to the improvement of nursing education, granted the BSN and MSN programs full accreditation for a five-year term, effective on October 13, 2007, making them the first nursing programs to receive CCNE accreditation outside the United Sates. CCNE grants a maximum of five-year terms for initial accreditation.

Professor Huda Abu-Saad Huijer, director of the School of Nursing, launched the reception by giving an impromptu speech in which she described the challenges that faced the school while it was applying for accreditation. "The accreditation is the first in the history of the School of Nursing… The situation in Lebanon, namely the July 2006 war and the Nahr al Bared war, could have almost prevented us from completing this journey to accreditation but we made it despite it all."

Huijer explained the different stages and main dates that marked the major accomplishments in the accreditation process. She thanked all the nursing staff, faculty, and students for their commitment to this process. Huijer concluded by commending the Lebanese people for their resilience and their fighting spirit, "and it is thanks to this spirit, that we succeeded." Huijer promised more surprising accomplishments by the School of Nursing to come later on.

Nadim Cortas, vice president of Medical Affairs and the Raja N. Khuri Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, also gave a welcoming speech in which he called on everyone attending to celebrate "the school and namely the architect who drove it to this success," said Cortas while referring to Huijer. Cortas also thanked all the team that helped in the process and also remarked the series of accreditations that AUB has been receiving most important of which is the international accreditation of AUBMC which formally received full accreditation by the Joint Commission International (JCI) on January 2, 2008.