For-profit Clovis university suspends pharmacy program after pre-accreditation denial

The Fresno Bee

Yesenia Amaro

March 7, 2022

California Health Sciences University has suspended a pharmacy doctorate program at its for-profit school in Clovis after failing to obtain pre-accreditation.

The program welcomed its first cohort of students in 2014, but never gained accreditation and will now close after 2024. CHSU is owned by the Assemi family whose members are major developers in Fresno.

In August 2020, pharmacy students learned they wouldn’t be able to attend classes, after all, following the withdrawal of CHSU’s precandidate status for accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. The decision affected 44 students who would have been part of the 2024 graduating class. At the time, the impacted students were getting help to attend other pharmacy schools in the state. It’s unknown how many of them gained slots in other schools.

The pharmacy school did not meet three out of 25 standards for accreditation and CHSU had to restart its accreditation process. CHSU restarted the accreditation process with intent of being able to accept pharmacy students again this fall. But according to online records from the accrediting council, the school had its precandidate status denied under the new application process. The program, again, failed on three standards. The three areas missed are curriculum design, delivery and oversight; faculty and staff qualifications; and pre-advanced pharmacy practice experience curriculum.

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