Students in Batesville who want to pursue a career as a dentist or veterinarian may soon have a local pathway for achieving their goals.
According to our content partner Region 8, Lyon College was notified that on Friday, Nov. 18, the Higher Learning Commission Institutional Actions Council (IAC) approved seven changes for the school.
One change, a result of requests from the community, was that the school offer dentistry and veterinary medicine professional degrees.
Lyon previously announced in April that it was developing plans for proposed veterinary and dental schools in partnership with UAMS.
The IAC also approved a request to open a branch campus in Little Rock for said programs at the Lyon College Institute for Health Sciences.
“Achieving the approval of our regional accreditor for these schools is a major milestone for us,” said Dr. Melissa P. Taverner, Lyon College president. “We now can complete and submit our initial applications for professional accreditation to the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) of the American Dental Association and the Council on Education (COE) of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).”
The college intends to submit the applications in early 2023.
There is currently no available information on when the programs would begin.