About the Program

Our Mission

The Physical Therapist Assistant Program at Somerset Community College is committed to academic excellence for students seeking associate degrees in the discipline.

Program graduates will be culturally competent and knowledgeable of theoretical concepts and principles supportive of skills and procedures critical to the physical therapist assistant.

Graduates, as they enter the workforce, will have achieved competency with general techniques common to practice settings available to them in the physical therapy community served by Somerset Community College.

They will be prepared to meet standards for state certification and to function as technically competent, caring, responsible and safe physical therapist assistants under the supervision of a physical therapist.

Our Philosophy

The Physical Therapist Assistant Program at Somerset Community College believes that every effort should aim at academic excellence.  The program will include both general and technical education courses of the highest quality, taught by well-qualified faculty.

The academic curricula and program resources will be routinely reviewed in an attempt to create a model of teaching excellence in physical therapist assistant education and to afford students optimal learning opportunities.

The program will coordinate a variety of clinical education experiences
utilizing knowledgeable physical therapists and physical therapist assistants as clinical instructors.

The graduates of the program will be well-prepared to sit for the national certification examination and to enter the workforce as well-prepared, culturally competent entry-level physical therapist assistants, performing safe, competent and compassionate care under the supervision of a physical therapist.

Our Goals

• The SCC PTA Program will maintain its fully accredited status from the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE). 

• The SCC PTA Program will retain core faculty and continue to provide meaningful professional development activities related to teaching methodology, student assessment and teaching content level of expertise.

• The SCC PTA Program will recruit a qualified applicant pool from which it will admit, retain, and graduate a well-prepared cohort of students.

• The SCC PTA Program will recruit a cohort of students with a culturally diverse background.

• SCC PTA Program students will complete and receive satisfactory evaluations for clinical performance in each of the clinical education rotations from their Clinical Instructor, CCCE, and ACCE.

• SCC PTA Program graduates will demonstrate competence on an examination for state certification as a PTA.

• SCC PTA Program graduates will obtain employment as PTAs within six months of graduation.

• The SCC PTA Program will produce exceptional graduates as evidenced by employer satisfaction.

• The SCC PTA Program will promote academic excellence and program improvement through program assessment activities and providing continuing education activities to its faculty.

Our Assessment Process

The SCC Program engages in continuous and systematic evaluation and improvement.  Comments, suggestions, ideas, and constructive criticism are welcomed as a part of the program’s assessment process.  SCC’s due process policies, as outlined in the KCTCS Catalog and related handbooks, provide a voice to current and prospective students, employees and other affiliated persons. However, individuals in the community who do not have a formal affiliation with SCC or SCC’s PTA Program, including clinical education sites, employers, and members of the general public, are also welcome to provide comments according to the following policy. 

This process pertains only to comments or concerns that cannot be addressed by existing grievance / due process procedures described in the KCTCS catalog, personnel handbook, student code of conduct, or PTA Program Policy and Procedure Manual or Student Handbook.

Comments must be provided in writing and signed by the author.  Anonymous submissions will not be acknowledged; nor will written comments provided on behalf of an anonymous source.

Comments must be submitted to the Program Director at the following address: 

PTA Program Director
Somerset Community College
808 Monticello Street
Somerset, Kentucky 42501