The Accreditation Review Council on Education for Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (ARC/STSA) welcomes Christy Baily-Byers as the Director of Education Services beginning November 2017. In this role, Baily-Byers will be responsible for the development and delivery of accreditation-related education programs and outreach activities of the ARC/STSA, including marketing and constituent communications.

Baily-Byers previously served as the manager of training and distance education development for the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools, where she developed and led training for more than 600 peer accreditation evaluators, 400 institutions, and the ABHES Commission and staff. She created standards and assessment procedures for distance education and advanced degree programs; and, conducted readiness reviews and team visits for institutions.

Baily-Byers served as a faculty member at Southern Methodist University, Texas Woman’s University, the University of Hartford and the University of Memphis for 16 years collectively. She has developed and taught residential and online courses in business management, journalism, public relations and communication. While at SMU, Baily-Byers was presented with the Rotunda Outstanding Professor Award and the Public Relations Society of America’s national Teahan Award for Outstanding Faculty Advisor.

Additionally, she led Baily-Byers Communications, a public relations and management consulting firm specializing in business communications for nonprofits, corporations, municipalities and federal government agencies. Prior to founding Baily-Byers Communications, she headed the public affairs department for Nova Southeastern University.

Baily-Byers earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Delaware and her MBA from Nova Southeastern University. She is A.P.R certified by the Public Relations Society of America.

The ARC/STSA is a private, not-for-profit accreditation body that in conjunction with the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) accredits surgical technology and surgical assisting programs throughout the United States. The ARC/STSA is jointly sponsored and supported by the Association of Surgical Technologists and the American College of Surgeons.