Mission
What is our mission?
Our Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) graduates are autonomous movement system experts who offer quality evidence informed services that optimize the human experience. Graduates are empowered to lead, reflect, adapt, and collaborate with ethical and moral courage. Faculty join our graduates as a community of scholars and entrepreneurs who aim to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and communities of Puerto Rico and the global society.
Who are our four stakeholder groups?
Four groups:
What are the three required student achievement measures?
More specifically:
employment rate
Who has authority to award a DPT degree?
Universities approved to do so by authorizing agencies. We are authorized (Universidad Ana G. Méndez–Cupey Campus). It is authorized by the Puerto Rico Board of Postsecondary Institutions to offer academic degrees, including doctoral degrees.
Who is protected by UAGM's nondiscrimination policies?
Not just students.
Protections extend to:
The SSR explicitly describes protections for faculty, staff, prospective/enrolled students and the public.
How is our mission connected to UAGM and Cupey?
The program mission is congruent with the institutional and Cupey missions, particularly around:
What is the purpose of our program goals?
Goals translate the mission into actionable commitments that guide things such as:
What can we report about our student achievement measures right now?
We currently have no graduates, so we do not yet have graduate-based graduation, licensure, or employment outcome data.
The first cohort entered in August 2024; the expected first graduation is June 2027.
MSCHE vs. CAPTE: what's the difference?
MSCHE → institutional accreditation.
CAPTE → professional accreditation of the physical therapist education program.
The DPT was included within UAGM-Cupey's accredited academic offerings through MSCHE's substantive change approval, while CAPTE is the professional accreditor.
UAGM Cupey is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Its institutional accreditation was reaffirmed on June 22, 2023, for an eight-year period.
What rights and protections do faculty and staff have?
Expected discussion should include:
What makes our mission contemporary to physical therapy?
The following concepts should be included in the answer:
Sources: APTA & ACAPT
What are the three themes that connect our goals to the mission?
Educational Excellence and Lifelong Learning
Ethical Leadership and Impactful Practice
Mission-Driven Service and Strategic Resource Management
What do we expect our student achievement measures to show in the future?
Faculty should know that the program has established expected outcomes/targets and plans for collecting the data once graduates are available.
For example, the SSR identifies:
≥90% employment within 12 months among graduates seeking employment
Who makes decisions about admissions, progression, and curriculum?
Faculty-driven committee structures, including:
The SSR describes faculty authority extending from admissions through progression, remediation, retention and dismissal.
Why might a DPT policy be more specific than a university policy?
Because professional PT education may require additional specificity related to:
What does it mean to prepare an "autonomous movement system expert"?
The following concepts should be in the answer:
Pick one mission statement phrase. Where do you see it in our goals and program activities?
Multiple answers are acceptable: respondent should answer with specific goal statement and explanations.
Example "evidence-informed services” is related to:
Theme: Educational Excellence and Lifelong Learning is
→ graduate goal related to evidence
→ faculty scholarship
→ curriculum and Knowledge Translation
What is the difference between a target and an actual achievement measure?
A target is the level of performance the program expects or aims to achieve.
An achievement measure/result is actual evidence of what happened.
What does academic freedom look like within the DPT program?
Academic freedom includes faculty ability to:
But it operates within:
A faculty member has a concern. How do you know where that concern should go?
The appropriate pathway depends on the nature of the concern and the person involved.
Faculty should know that there are both program-level and institutional pathways and that complaints may be directed through different channels.
A reviewer says, "Your mission sounds nice, but how is it actually lived?" How would you answer?
The following connections are important:
How does the program know whether its goals are being achieved beyond the required student achievement measures?
Faculty should recognize that goal achievement is examined through the program's broader assessment processes, including the Program Assessment Matrix and Curriculum Assessment Matrix, with direct and indirect measures and benchmarks.
A reviewer asks, "You have no graduates yet. How can you demonstrate that you are prepared to evaluate your outcomes?"
The faculty should explain that:
there is information available that allows us to look at trends
A reviewer says, "Who really runs this program… the Program Director or the faculty?" How would you answer?
The strongest answer is both have defined responsibilities, but academic decision-making is faculty-driven within the institutional governance structure.
Faculty have authority/responsibility for academic matters such as:
The Program Director provides leadership, coordination, administration, accreditation oversight and institutional interface.
A complaint involves the Department Chair. What should happen, and why?
The complaint should not simply be handled by the person who is the subject of the complaint.
Alternative institutional administrators/channels, such as the Dean of the School of Health Sciences, Dean of Academic Affairs, or another designated institutional administrator, depending on the circumstance.
To support: