12/28/2023

PA Program Spotlight: University of Mount Union

Newsletter Article - December 2023

The University of Mount Union Physician Assistant program was accredited in 2008 with its first class matriculating in 2009. Since opening its doors, the Mount Union PA program has graduated roughly 425 knowledgeable, competent, and compassionate physician assistant students.

This past July, the program awarded 39 students their white coats prior to the beginning of the clinical year. This is a very exciting time of transition for the PA students of Mount Union as they embark on their clinical rotation journey. Also, this past July, the program graduated 38 students who were eager to pass the PANCE and begin their careers as PA-Cs! The class of 2023 had a 97% pass rate on the PANCE!

In December, 18 students and 4 faculty/medical providers went on a medical service trip to Guatemala to help care for a very remote village. In preparation for this trip, there were many fundraising efforts. In September, Mount Union hosted its first golf outing at The Quarry Golf Club in Canton, OH. This was not only a huge success for fundraising, but also a great opportunity for the students to network with local providers. In addition to the golf outing, the students offered landscaping services to local residents.

The leader of the Guatemala trip and an associate professor of the Mount Union PA program, Roger Kunes, has been leading groups of students to Guatemala for several years now. He is passionate about his students having this opportunity to serve others, so he tries very hard to help fundraise as much as possible. Over the years he has asked friends and colleagues to offer their homes to be landscaped in support of the trip. This included things like weeding and mulching. Although there is nothing planned at this time, in the future there will be more fundraising events planned to support the PA OlymPAcs as well as the next medical mission trip to Guatemala.

Submitted by Kelly Petrini, PA-S & Sydney Lewis, PA-S