ACGC Annual Accreditation ReportJuly 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017

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ACGC President’s ReportThis past year has seen a tremendous growth in the number of accredited genetic counseling training programs in the US and Canada, and the number of institutions interested in starting a program. The ACGC has been hard at work fine-tuning our operations to support this expansion. We welcome the six programs who received Accredited New Program status this past year: Augustana University, Indiana State University, Bay Path University, Rutgers University, University of South Florida and Thomas Jefferson University. We also congratulate the four programs that received reaccreditation this year: Sarah Lawrence College, Stanford University, University of British Columbia and California State University-Stanislaus. We are indebted to the hard work of our Board of Directors, Program Review Committee volunteers and Site Visitors who enable the process of peer-review and accreditation to move smoothly forward.

In July 2016, we published our Accreditation Manual to serve as an overview of the ACGC accreditation process, policies and procedures. It is available on our website at gceducation.org/accreditation/accreditation-manual. We attended the Association of Genetic Counseling Program Directors (AGCPD) biannual retreat in July 2016, not only to share the Accreditation Manual as a tool for developing and existing programs, but to share about the landscape of accreditation and higher education best practices. In September 2016, we participated in the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA) conference in Washington, DC, which occurs twice a year and is an opportunity for us to interact with and learn from other accreditation professionals.

This winter, we converted our annual Report of Current Status (RCS) process from paper to an online format in order to have access to more robust accreditation data and to make the annual reporting easier for accredited programs. We also began the process of converting our operations to an academic year to better align with the flow of the training programs. On December 31, 2016 we said goodbye to Board members Sarah Noblin, Pat McCarthy Veach and Nancy Callanan – and then on January 1, 2017 we welcomed Dawn Allain, Heather Creswick and Ian MacFarlane. June 30, 2017 marked the end of Ann Walker’s service and July 1, 2017 we welcomed Lori Williamson Dean. We convened two in-person Board meetings this year, in September 2016 and March 2017, both in Chicago.

This past year also brought many opportunities to collaborate with genetics colleagues outside of the ACGC through the Engagement Taskforce, Standards Taskforce, Clinical Training Assessment Taskforce, the newly formed Standards Committee, the Workforce Working Group, the CEU Workgroup and the Exam Eligibility Taskforce. We also continue regular communications with the ABGC, CAGC, AGCPD and NSGC to support our joint efforts to further the field of genetic counseling. We welcome any contact regarding accreditation and look forward to continuing our work to promote quality higher education for genetic counselors.

Amanda Bergner, ACGC President

Meredith Weaver, ACGC Past President

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Program Accreditation StatisticsAccredited Programs As of June 30, 2017, the current number of accredited programs is 41. Visit the ACGC website www.gceducation.org for links to each accredited program.

The statistics listed below are averages across all 35 programs required to submit a Report of Current Status in June 2017 that currently have enrolled students. The four programs that underwent reaccreditation in 2017 and two new programs were not required to submit an RCS.

Current Program Averages

# Applicants # Slots # Enrolled and Matriculated

Percent Retention

# Grads to date by enrollment

cohort

2015 106.70 7.97 8.00 98.13% 7.20

2014 95.43 8.93 7.73 97.67% 7.50

2013 85.20 7.13 7.07 92.90% 6.87

2012 82.57 7.03 7.07 92.26% 6.87

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Clinical Encounters

Avg. n

Average Total Number of Clinical Encounters 123.88 30

Average Number of Clinical Encounters in General Pediatrics 30.23 30

Average Number of Clinical Encounters in Prenatal 41.82 30

Average Number of Clinical Encounters in Cancer 34.35 30

Average Number of Clinical Encounters Other (Adult/Specialty) 13.84 29

2017 ReaccreditationACGC completed four site visits for the 2017 reaccreditation cycle. The following programs were reviewed and granted full accreditation through 2025: California State University-Stanislaus, Sarah Lawrence College, Stanford University and University of British Columbia.

New ProgramsThis past year, ACGC granted the following programs Accredited New Program status:

Augustana University Sioux Falls, SD

Bay Path University Long Meadow, MA

Rutgers University Piscataway, NJ

Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia, PA

University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB

University of South Florida Tampa, FL

Letters of IntentACGC has approved the following Letters of Intent this past year:

Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX

Columbia University New York, NY

Keck Graduate Institute Claremont, CA

Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA

University of Arizona Tucson, AZ

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New ACGC Processes and PoliciesThe ACGC has revised or updated the following policies:

Letter of IntentThe ACGC amended the Letter of Intent (LOI) policy to include dates by which a program with an approved LOI must submit a completed application. This policy revision was effective as of March 31, 2017. The policy now states:

Prospective programs and institutions must submit a Letter of Intent and receive ACGC approval at least 30 days in advance of submitting an Accreditation Application for New Programs. Additionally, an Accreditation Application for New Programs must be received by ACGC no more than 180 days after approval of the Letter of Intent.

Report of Current StatusThe ACGC transitioned the format of the Report of Current (RCS) Status to an online process using an external software platform. The RCS deadline of June 15, 2017 remained the same. The goals of moving to an online format were to be able to prepopulate data from year to year that programs have previously submitted and for ease of compilation on aggregate data regarding programs.

Reaccreditation Self-Study DeadlineThe ACGC Board of Directors approved changing the reaccreditation self-study deadline to August 1st each year. This change is effective January 31, 2018. The change was necessitated by the implementation of the Genetic Counseling Admissions Match process, which opened for program registration for the first time on May 1, 2017.

Standards Revision ProcessThe ACGC Board of Directors adopted the Standards Revision process as outlined by the Standards Taskforce, and asked the newly formed Standards Committee to review the outline and operationalize the process as one of its first tasks.

Transition in board terms from calendar to academic yearIn the fall of 2016, the Board voted to transition the terms of the board volunteers from a calendar year to an academic year (July 1-June 30). The ACGC began the transition with the election of new directors in 2016 and will continue with this transition through the 2017-2018 year.

Accreditation statement and use of logoThe ACGC Board of Directors approved the following policy regarding the use of the ACGC logo and statement of accreditation:

ACGC encourages programs to include an accreditation statement on their websites to help insure full disclosure to current and potential students. Below is a sample statement that programs can use. Programs may also include the ACGC website with the statement if desired. If programs would like to also include the ACGC logo, please contact the Executive Office with this request. An appropriate electronic copy of the logo will be sent to you. Please do not copy and paste it from the ACGC website.

UNIVERSITY’S NAME Master’s in Genetic Counseling program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC), located at 4400 College Blvd. Ste., 220, Overland Park, KS 66211 web address www.gceducation.org. ACGC can be reached by phone at 913.222.8668.

Programs who do include a copy of the statement and/or a copy of the logo on their program websites will need to remain in compliance with the Standards of Accreditation including any requirements regarding notifications of probation and/or revocation of accreditation. Those programs for which accreditation is revoked must remove any reference to accreditation by ACGC immediately.

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Communications CommitteeThe ACGC Communications Committee is charged with overseeing communications involving the ACGC and enabling transparency in the accreditation process for graduate programs in genetic counseling. This entails creating and overseeing the annual strategic communication plan, website, annual report, submissions to genetic counseling publications, and other tasks related to communication with our stakeholders. Keep an eye out for ACGC contributing to upcoming issues of Perspectives to highlight topics related to new and existing program accreditation.

Several “office hours” opportunities are offered at the NSGC Annual Conference to provide attendees at the NSGC meeting times to ask questions and clarify accreditation processes. Representatives from the ACGC Board of Directors will be available to answer questions regarding the accreditation process during the following dates/times:

Day: Thursday, September 14Time: 7:00 - 8:00 AMLocation: Room D 182 Greater Columbus Convention Center

Day: Friday, September 15Time: 7:00 - 8:00 AMLocation: Room D 183 Greater Columbus Convention Center

Ian MacFarlane

Janet L. Williams

Acknowledgement of our VolunteersThank you to our many volunteers from this past year – we couldn’t do it without you.

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Engagement TaskforceThe ACGC Engagement Taskforce (ETF) continued their work from July to December 2016, and the final report was submitted to the ACGC Board of Directors in December. The ETF undertook the task of identifying and prioritizing key ACGC stakeholders and then determining needs and engagement approaches relevant to each, including current and prospective students, current and prospective genetic counseling training program directors, ACGC volunteers, practicing genetic counselors, clinical supervisors, hospital credentialers, non-genetics colleagues, certifying bodies, professional bodies, other accrediting bodies, patients and employers.

One of the recommendations from the ETF was the creation of a Communications Committee, which the ACGC Board of Directors convened in March 2017 with Board members Janet L. Williams and Ian MacFarlane co-chairing.

Nominating CommitteeThe Nominating Committee sought a nomination this year for an Educator Member to serve on the Board. An Educator member is someone directly and significantly involved with an accredited graduate program in genetic counseling (e.g., professor, instructor, academic dean, clinical supervisor, program leader). After reviewing applications from qualified nominees, the committee chose Lori Williamson Dean for the slate. The board approved the nomination and Ms. Dean began her term on July 1, 2017. Her term will be for three years. Ms. Dean is the assistant director of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Genetic Counseling Graduate Program. She received her MS in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling from the University of Michigan.

Ann Walker, Chair, ACGC

Janet L. Williams, ACGC

Martha Dudek

Gretchen Schneider

Quinn Stein

Engagement Taskforce Volunteers:Amanda Bergner, Chair, ACGC

Robin Bennett

Michelle Fox

Lauren Gallagher, CAGC

Robin Grubs, AGCPD

Stephanie Kieffer, ABGC

Dan Riconda, NSGC

Erin Syverson, New graduate

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Program Review CommitteeThe Program Review Committee (PRC) is a dedicated group of volunteers with experience in genetic counselor education, including program and curriculum development, research, and/or clinical supervision. PRC members review Reaccreditation Application and self-study documents, and assess compliance with ACGC Standards. Questions or issues identified are then brought forward to the Site Visitor Committee, who spends 1-2 days meeting program leadership, staff and students to directly assess program compliance with ACGC standards. This year, the PRC Chair, Jenna Scott, and Co-Chair, Heather Stalker, coordinated the review of the 4 programs undergoing reaccreditation in the 2017 cycle.

To ensure timely response to applications without compromise in rigor, the ACGC streamlined the new program application process and built capacity within the PRC committee. The average time from new program application submission to approval was 7.5 months with a range from 5-10 months.

Program Review CommitteeMaria Blazo

Lisa Catalano

Cheryl Dickerson

Carrie Guy

Lynn Holt

Rachel Pothast

Carly Siskind

Rachel Vanneste

Katherine Wusik-Healy

Site Visitors (2016-2017 Reviews)Susan Armel

Bruce Bloomberg

Deb Lochner Doyle

Ora Gordon

Nancy Hanson

Toni Pollin

Jennifer Roggenbuck

Kathy Steinhaus French

Chris Tan

Wen-Hann Tan

Ian Wallace

Jerome Yankowitz

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ACGC Report of Financial StatementYear ending December 31, 2016

Support and RevenueAccreditation Fees $187,222Contributions $90,000Investment income $29,897Total Support & Revenue $307,119

ExpensesProgram Services

Accreditation $129,129Support Services

Management and General $107,220Total expenses $236,349Change in Net Assets $70,770

Finance Committee: Amanda Bergner, Karen Copeland, Linda Smith, Meredith Weaver

ACGC Contact Information ACGC Executive Office4400 College Boulevard, Suite 220Overland Park, Kansas 66211Phone: 913-222-8668Email: info@gceducation.orgWebsite: www.gceducation.org

Executive Director: Sheila O’NealOperations Manager: Mary Henderson

2017-2018 Board of DirectorsAmanda Bergner, President

Meredith Weaver, Past President

Jenna Scott, Program Review Committee Co-Chair

Heather Stalker, Program Review Committee Co-Chair

Linda Smith, Secretary/Treasurer

Dawn Allain

Heather Creswick

Lori Williamson Dean

Ian MacFarlane

Janet L. Williams

2016-2017 Board of DirectorsMeredith Weaver, President

Sarah Noblin, Past President

Jenna Scott, Program Review Chair

Nancy Callanan, Secretary/Treasurer

Amanda Bergner

Patricia McCarthy Veach

Linda Smith

Heather Stalker

Ann Walker

Janet L. Williams