Sacred Heart University has opened the doors to two new colleges that will offer programs on education and health.
The Farrington College of Education will focus on field-based teacher and administrator preparation programs, while the College of Health Professions will offer degrees in physical therapy, athletic training, exercise science, occupational therapy and nursing. The schools were formerly under one roof ”“ the College of Education and Health Professions.
Patricia Walker, former dean of the College of Education and Health Professions, is now dean of the College of Health Professions.
“There”™s been some great growth in both education and health,” Walker said.
The Farrington College of Education is named for Isabelle Farrington, a teacher and strong supporter of education and benefactor of Sacred Heart University. Her name has been connected to the school since 2007 when it was dedicated as the Isabelle Farrington School of Education.
“Over the past 10 years, the College of Education and Health Professions has grown in every area,” said Edward Malin, director of the new school of education. “The Farrington School of Education now recommends nearly 300 teacher candidates annually and bestows the largest number of Intermediate Administrator Certificates of any school in the state. Our students and faculty will benefit from the separation and the specialized focus on education that will result.”
The new health specialty school has created two doctoral programs at that university in physical therapy and nursing practice. There is also now an online nursing degree program. The school will offer accreditation of the orthopedic physical therapy residency program from the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education.
John Petillo, president of Sacred Heart University, said the decision to establish a new school came with the full accreditation of the Isabelle Farrington School of Education from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
“Our new accreditation prompted an internal self-study of the quality of all of our programs and operations,” Petillo said. “That led the university to recognize that separating education from health professions would provide both units with greater flexibility to sustain the growth of their programs and better serve their students and the public.”
He said a search will begin for someone to fill the role of dean of the Farrington College of Education.
