BATESVILLE-- Lyon College received official notification from the Higher Learning Commission Institutional Actions Council (IAC) regarding the college’s change requests that have been under consideration since March 2022.
The IAC approved a total of seven changes at Lyon College, including requests to offer the doctor of medical dentistry and the doctor of veterinary medicine professional degrees. The IAC also approved a request to open a branch campus in Little Rock to house the dentistry and veterinary medicine 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). We plan to submit these applications in early 2023. Work on the dental and veterinary programs continues to move forward, and Lyon College will provide updates as subsequent steps in developing the Institute of Health Sciences are achieved."
Additionally, the IAC approved Lyon College’s change requests to offer a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program, distance education courses and programs, a change in mission to offer graduate degrees, and a master of arts in teaching (MAT) degree program.
“We are now able to advertise these new programs that will be located at our Batesville campus and to proceed with the next stages of development, including preparing instructional plans and finalizing admissions processes for the BSN and MAT programs,” Dr. Taverner said.
