Physician Assistant Program
Welcome to the information site for the Physician Assistant Program. This is a 28-month graduate program leading to a Master of Science degree (M.S.) in Physician Assistant Studies.
This is the first PA program in the state of Arkansas. At Harding we are very excited about the potential impact of this program on the local community, the people of Arkansas, and worldwide mission fields.
The Harding University Physician Assistant Program has 131 graduates since our inception in 2005. At this time, 72 of these graduates have or are applying for licensure in the state of Arkansas with approximately 16 recent graduates indicating intentions to remain in AR.
Program graduates are practicing throughout Arkansas and 15 other states in a variety of settings including Primary Care, Urgent and Emergent Care, Orthopedic, Dermatology, Geriatrics, Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Oncology, Rheumatology, Surgery specialties, Mental Health, Urology, and Pediatrics.
The class of 2011 are now graduate PAs and have begun to study and take their PANCE exams. Before graduation, 13 of our 31 graduates already had jobs waiting for them and others were just working out the details.
Thirty-five students in the class of 2012 have begun their second semester of clinical roations. They enjoyed getting to spend a little time with the students in the class above them before graduation and are beginning to think of where they want to practice when they graduate.
All of the class of 2013 returned after their Christmas holiday, ready to tackle the 2nd didactic semester. They come to us from CO, MN, IN, MT, OH, TN, CA, KY, NY, UT, GA, TX, AZ and of course AR. Their backgrounds are about as varied as their locations. It is a great mix!
Times/Places to meet with the Admissions Director:
March 27, 4 PM-6:30 PM: UT Dallas - Professional school fair
March 28, noon-3PM: TCU - Professional school fair
March 28, 5PM-7PM: University of North Texas - Professional school fair
March 29, noon-2PM, UT Arlington - Professional school fair
April 5, 12:15PM: UALR - Fribourgh Hall (FH), FH 101 (1st floor lecture hall) - PA information presentation to a pre-medical interest group
April 19, 7PM: Harding NWA Professional Center, 1803 Phyllis Street, rm 101, Bentonville AR 72712.
This will be an Information session very similar in nature to the one held on the Searcy campus. See more details under the April 21 date. All questions concerning this meeting should be directed to the PA admissions director at paprogram@harding.edu
April 21 (Saturday): 1-3 PM INFORMATION SESSION - SEARCY CAMPUS
- Farrar Center for Health Sciences Room 209
- This is open to anyone interested in learning more about PA education and the profession and anyone wanting more information about the application process
- Information about our program
- General question and answer session - some of our current students will be available (this will not be available in Bentonville)
- Dedicated time after general dismissal to discuss CASPA (for those interested)
- See map on the website for directions to our building
- No RSVP required
PDFof website available for download
For complete PANCE results, visit our FAQ.
On October 24th, 2008 the Center for Health Sciences was officially dedicated during Homecoming activities.
We are located at the corner of Dr. Jimmy Carr Dr (Remington) and Park. GPS co-ordinates are: N 35 14.676', W 91 43.718'
Please stop by to visit if you are in the area. Take a look at our map for more details and driving instructions.
BROCHURE
Our brochure is available for download as a PDF
All classes are located on the Searcy campus. There is no distance learning option available.
ACCREDITATION STATUS
The program has been awarded Continued Accreditation by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). The approximate date for the next review by ARC-PA will be in 2014.
Updated (9/22/2009, 1/8/2010, 1/11)
