The Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) is pleased to announce elections for the following vacancies:

• One (1) seat on the CAATE Commission available Fall 2013

CAATE Commissioner

Commission Functions: Oversee voluntary non-governmental specialized accreditation, adopt Standards that govern acceptable practices, make final accreditation decisions, develop and maintain a collaborative and publically accessible process for policies and procedures, maintain accreditation records, encourage innovation in athletic training educational programs beyond the requirements delineated in the Standards, maintain and make publicly available the accreditation status of all accredited programs.  

The Annual Report Module for Professional Programs is now available in e-Accreditation:

Annual reports will be due October 15th, 2013.

• Programs will report annual information about the program including:
• Faculty profiles
• Clinical site profiles
• Preceptor profiles
• Student cohorts
• Institution Profile
• Specific Annual Report Questions

It is with great enthusiasm that we introduce the new President and Vice President of the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education.   President Laursen and Vice President Sauers will take office immediately, replacing former President Micki Cuppett who has resigned to accept the position of Executive Director of the Commission.  President Laursen’s term extends through the summer of 2015, while Vice President Sauer’s term extends through the summer of 2014.

President

R. Mark Laursen, MS, ATC, has served as Boston University’s Director of Athletic Training Services since June 2008. At that time, he was also named a Clinical Associate Professor of Athletic Training in BU’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.  No stranger to BU, Laursen has served in numerous capacities at the University since 1983, he has previously worked at BU as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Athletic Training, an Athletic Trainer, working closely with the men’s basketball, football and wrestling programs, Interim Head Athletic Trainer, Coordinator of Clinical Education and Interim Program Director.  From July 2007 to May 2008, he was at the University of South Carolina as a member of its graduate faculty where he coordinated all graduate clinical education. He has also been on the athletic training staff at Washington College (MD) and the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.  Laursen has contributed to several publications, has made numerous presentations, and is a reviewer for Athletic Therapy Today, Journal of Athletic Training and Athletic Training Education Journal.

Laursen has volunteered as an athletic trainer at numerous sporting events including the Boston Marathon, NCAA championships for men’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, women’s ice hockey and wrestling, and U.S. Figure Skating and Gymnastics Championships.  A 1983 graduate of Appalachian State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, Laursen majored in Health Education and minored in Athletic Training. He earned his Master of Science degree in 1986 from Canisius College.  Mark has served as a Commissioner since 2010, Vice President from 2011-12 and President Elect from 2012- present.

Vice President

Eric Sauers, PhD, ATC, FNATA, is a tenured Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences at the Arizona School of Health Sciences (ASHS), A. T. Still University (ATSU), in Mesa, Arizona. He received his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Seattle Pacific University and his master of science degree in sports health care from ATSU. He completed his doctor of philosophy degree in sports medicine at Oregon State University (OSU). His primary research interests are related to the assessment of clinical outcomes and health-related quality of life in athletes following musculoskeletal injury, the examination and rehabilitation of the athletic shoulder and post-professional athletic training education. Dr. Sauers has published numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles and given numerous state, regional, and national presentations related to his research.

He is currently the President of the American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists, a multidisciplinary society of professionals in the area of shoulder and elbow rehabilitation. Dr. Sauers is the Associate Editor for Clinical Outcomes for the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation and an Editorial Board member for the Journal of Athletic Training and the Athletic Training Education Journal. He has served as the Chair of the NATA Post-Professional Education Committee and as a member of the NATA Strategic Implementation Team, Education Council Executive Committee, and the NATA Foundation Research Committee. He has received the President’s Award from the Arizona Athletic Trainers’ Association, the Distinguished Educator Award from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Trainers’ Association, and has been recognized for his dedication to the athletic training profession with the distinction as a Fellow of the NATA.  He joined the Commission on July 1, 2012 and serves on the Post-Professional Transition Team of the CAATE.

After a nationwide search the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education is pleased to announce the selection of Micki Cuppett EdD, ATC as our Executive Director.  Dr. Cuppett is currently a Professor and Director, Athletic Training and the Vice Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine at University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida. She previously served as the college’s Director of Educational Design & Technology in the Office of Educational Affairs.

Dr. Cuppett holds an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Northern Iowa. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in higher education, accreditation and athletic training to this post. Dr. Cuppett has served as a program director for professional programs in athletic training at the baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate level and also has 12 years of experience as an assistant and head athletic trainer. Dr. Cuppett will assume the duties of the Executive Director on May 8, 2013.

We would like to thank the search committee, which included Dr. Greg Frazer, Dr. Paula Maxwell, and Dr. Pat Sexton, for their hard work in screening the strong applicant pool and conducting several rounds of interviews.

In preparation for electronic submission of accreditation documents  through e-Accreditation, we have renumbered the 2012 Standards. Instead of alphanumeric numbering as in the past, the 2012 Standards will now be numerically numbered.  This numbering scheme will match the numbering of the Standards within all modules (self-study, annual report, etc..) in e- Accreditation.  We think you will appreciate the changes.

In addition, in preparation of our new site visitor training, we discovered a few Standards that were a bit confusing.  Therefore, the CAATE has made a few editorial changes in the Standards.   The editorial changes were for clarification only and DO NOT change the intent of the Standard.  The revised Standards are available on the website.

The next site visitor training session will be at the NATA Conference in Las Vegas.

Sunday, June 23rd:

Site Visitor training for new site visitors (by invitation only) 5pm – 8pm

Monday, June 24th:

Site Visitor training for new and current site visitors (by invitation only) 8am – noon

The CAATE is pleased to announce that the 2012 Standards for the Academic Accreditation of Professional Athletic Training Programs are now available on the CAATE website under the “Entry Level Documents” page.   The revised Standards are a culmination of more than two years of review, feedback, and revision by over 600 educators, clinicians and administrators.