The American College of Healthcare Sciences (ACHS) is based in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and specializes in online

holistic health Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

, founded in 1978. ACHS is a Certified B Corporation and accredited, for-profit college with accredited online certificates, degrees, and microcredentials in aromatherapy, herbal medicine, holistic nutrition, wellness coaching, and integrative health modalities.

History

ACHS began in 1976 as the extramural or distance education department of an on-campus naturopathic college in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. In 1998, ACHS became state licensed by the

Oregon Department of Education The Department of Education of the U.S. state of Oregon is responsible for implementing the state's public education policies, including academic standards and testing, credentials, and other matters not reserved to the local districts and boar ...

. The Oregon Department of Education noted that it was the first state-licensed college in the U.S. offering distance education programs in holistic medicine. ACHS became accredited by the

Distance Education Accrediting Commission The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), formerly the National Home Study Council and then as the Distance Education and Training Council, is a non-profit national educational accreditation agency in the United States specializing in t ...

in 2003 and changed its name from the Australasian College of Herbal Studies to the Australasian College of Health Sciences. In May 2009, ACHS changed its name to the American College of Healthcare Sciences. In September 2016 ACHS became a Certified B Corporation.

Academics

The American College of Healthcare Sciences offers certificate programs, an Associate of Applied Science degrees, Master of Science degrees, and continuing education courses, webinars, community wellness workshops, and study-abroad programs. ACHS is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), which is recognized by both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as an accrediting body.

Campus

The American College of Healthcare Sciences administrative building is located in Portland, Oregon.

Sustainability

As of September 2008, ACHS pledged their participation to PGE's Save More, Matter More campaign. In place of traditional power, ACHS has pledged to use renewable power, which makes use of clean wind to save energy, cut costs, and help the environment. In 2009 ACHS was approved by Green America's Green Business Network.

Green America Green America (known as Co-op America until January 1, 2009) is a nonprofit membership organization based in the United States that promotes environmentally aware, ethical consumerism. Founded in 1982, by Paul Freundlich, Green America states that ...

In December 2010, the ACHS Apothecary Shoppe became

Oregon Tilth Oregon Tilth is an American nonprofit membership organization advocating organic food and farming, based in Corvallis, Oregon. Oregon Tilth's purpose is to educate gardeners, farmers, legislators, and the general public about sustainable growing ...

Certified Organic (OTCO). OTCO is the certifying agent for the

National Organic Program The National Organic Program (NOP) is the federal regulatory framework in the United States of America governing organic food. It is also the name of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) program r ...

(NOP) of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

(USDA). In June 2013, ACHS and the Apothecary Shoppe was re-certified as a Green America Gold Certified Business. In January 2016 the Apothecary Shoppe, ACHS's college store, announced it will donate 2% of all essential oil sales to directly support global sustainability education initiatives in botanical production for the essential oil industry. In June 2016, ACHS was named #6 of out of 100 Best Green Workplaces by ''Oregon Business'' magazine. It was named #2 in 2017, #5 in 2018, and #3 in 2019.

References

External links

* {{authority control Distance education institutions based in the United States Universities and colleges in Portland, Oregon Educational institutions established in 1978 Healthcare in Portland, Oregon 1978 establishments in Oregon For-profit universities and colleges in the United States Distance Education Accreditation Commission B Lab-certified corporations