Laura Stuetzer, MS, PA, is the associate executive director for the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). After receiving her bachelor’s degree in medical technology from Central Missouri State University, she earned a PA certificate, as well as a second bachelor’s from Saint Louis University. Ms. Stuetzer was NCCPA certified from 1976 until December 2014. She also earned a Master of Science in Allied Health Administration in 1985 from Saint Louis University. In 1993 she was appointed by the AAPA to serve as an ARC-PA commissioner and chaired the accreditation commission from 1996 to 1998. Ms. Stuetzer began working with the ARC-PA part-time in 1999.
Ms. Stuetzer participated as a member of the accrediting panels for newly developing PA programs in the Netherlands and Canada and has conducted PA program accreditation site visits since the mid-1970s. As a PA faculty member at Saint Louis University for more than 26 years, she held every faculty position available at the PA program, from part-time clinical coordinator to program director and department chair. Ms. Stuetzer served as the first coordinator of instructional development at the university’s School of Medicine and as director of planning for the School of Allied Health Professions. In 1994, she was named Missouri Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
With PAEA (formerly APAP) Ms. Stuetzer presented many faculty development workshops, participated on numerous committees, and served two terms on the board of directors. She was feature editor from 1999 to 2005 for the Teaching Tips column for Perspective on Physician Assistant Education and, from 2005 to 2007, edited the Accreditation Pearls column in the Journal of Physician Assistant Education. In 2002, she received PAEA’s Outstanding Service Award.
Ms. Stuetzer is active with her church, as a volunteer at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and enjoys travel.
Acknowledgments: This biography was written by Gloria Stewart, EdD, PA, with assistance from Ms. Stuetzer, and was submitted to the Society in November, 2015. The photographs are courtesy of Ms. Stuezter.
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