Southern Adventist University’s new Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) Program will begin in January of 2019.
PTA Program Director Chris Stewart said the program is in its final stages of the initial accreditation process. Fifteen student interviews were held last week, and acceptance letters were sent out last Thursday, Sept. 27. Students admitted into the program are scheduled to begin their first classes in January and graduate in December of 2019. Stewart said that the future goal is to accept 40 PTA students.
“From last I heard, as far as incoming freshmen, roughly around 60 or so have picked PTA as their career of choice. So the numbers will increase substantially,” Stewart said.
Southern will be the only other Seventh-day Adventist school besides Loma Linda University to have a PTA program.
Students will graduate with an associate degree, which involves two semesters of prerequisites and three semesters in the PTA program itself. Because PTA is a hands-on degree, Stewart said roughly two-thirds of students’ time will be focused in the lab, while a third of time will be spent in the classroom.
The program’s building is located at Fleming Plaza in the Mini Mall and was recently
renovated with offices, a classroom, locker room, and two labs.
The program plans to work with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and
Southern’s nursing simulation labs in the near future, as well as with others in the discipline.
“We’d like to get a lot more community involvement with the local PTs and PTAs,” Stewart said.