By Alex Benzegala
Panhandle Post
In a press release this week, Chadron State College announced that their Strength and Conditioning degree program is one of nine undergraduate programs in the U.S. to earn accreditation from the Council on Accreditation in Strength and Conditioning or (CASCE).
Dr. Willie Hoffman is a professor and Program Director of the Strength and Conditioning program at CSC, he says the whole process started in 2018 when the NSCA announced plans for students to be required to graduate from an accredited program by the CASC, before taking the Certified Strength and Conditioning Association certification exam.
The new program was created in 2020 and students began to enroll in the fall of 2021, and there were additional requirements for students that included more internship hour requirements.
To earn accreditation, Hoffman says that there was a thorough evaluation to make sure the program was up to CASCE standards. This included a self study and following that, a CASCE peer review team visited CSC in Feb. 2023. An evaluation was done in April and a notification of earning accreditation in June. In 2028, the accreditation will need to be renewed.