Dr. Maureen Jones is passionate about guiding and supporting programs to achieve their full potential, or as she calls it, “helping them shine.” She specializes in building customized assessments, solutions, and implementation strategies that leverage internal talents and elevate program outcomes.

Dr. Jones thrives on collaborating with faculty and program leadership in areas such as accreditation preparation, program assessment, candidacy application development, curriculum development, competency modeling, and comprehensive program process improvement. Her approach to program engagement and problem-solving is rooted in Organization Development consulting, focusing on building potential, prioritizing specific client needs, and customizing each part of the approach. This partnership encourages a co-development model for understanding, improving, and reinforcing strategies, structures, and processes to meet client goals.

With extensive experience in higher education, healthcare, and business, Dr. Jones brings a unique breadth and depth of knowledge and skills to support programs, leadership, and faculty in achieving successful outcomes. She is a Master CAHME Fellow, site visit chair, and a member of the Accreditation Council, Candidacy Committee, and Substantive Change Committee. Currently, she chairs the CAHME Standards Council, leading a team to revise the standards.

Dr. Jones holds a PhD in Organization Development and Human Resource Management, along with two nursing degrees from Penn State. Committed to lifelong learning, she has gained invaluable insights from the people and programs she has worked with over the past 30 years. Below are testimonials that demonstrate Dr. Jones’ commitment to tailoring each opportunity to benefit programs and students.

“Working with an external consultant (Maureen Connelly Jones) for accreditation offers our program and leadership invaluable expertise and a fresh perspective. Maureen’s specialized knowledge of accreditation standards ensures that we focused on all requirements effectively and efficiently. By leveraging her experience with similar institutions, we identified best practices and avoided potential pitfalls, streamlining our preparation efforts. Additionally, by having an objective third party enhanced our credibility with our university leadership and bolstered stakeholder confidence in the quality of our program, ultimately supporting our mission, goals and most importantly improved our program for the students”. ~Program Director

“Maureen has been an invaluable member of our team  in realizing our program goals. She is an excellent facilitator, collaborator, and advisory who brings her extensive experience and knowledge in health administration education and accreditation to bear on the challenges we faced in moving our program forward. She is more than a consultant; she is now a colleague and a friend!” ~Faculty Member

“Dr. Maureen Jones spent a day with our faculty leadership team, which was instrumental in breaking old paradigms and ‘jump-starting’ our preparation for our next accreditation self-study year and the next CAHME accreditation survey visit. Before visiting, Maureen assigned pre-visit homework to our leadership team, which was excellent for helping us refamiliarize ourselves with the CAHME criteria.  The self-assessment helped us enter the day with Maureen with a strategic mindset.  

While onsite, Maureen listened intently to all of us relative to our current competency model and processes. She then asked thought-provoking  questions, and partnered with us as a team to consider an innovative, new, and strategic mental framework, process, and tools. Her expertise as a CAHME fellow and educator, in combination with her dynamic personality, is a gift to any program desiring to prepare proactively for accreditation or reaccreditation.  We are very appreciative of her time and expertise!” ~ Program Director & Faculty

“Dr. Maureen Jones’ expertise and collaborative approach greatly enriched our recent School of Health Administration CAHME faculty retreat, where we reviewed essential criteria for our Master of Healthcare Administration program. Her insights helped clarify complex standards, facilitating a focused discussion on aligning our curriculum with accreditation requirements. The experience fostered both meaningful engagement and strategic direction for our program’s continuous improvement.” ~ Department Chair

“Despite the emergent turnaround deadlines during the process, Maureen was always there to provide timely and pertinent suggestions on our application. Her real-world knowledge of the process, the standards, and what constitutes evidence from a reviewer and site visitor perspective gave us the confidence and opportunity to improve our candidacy application prior to submission. As a first-time applicant, this reassurance and insight was invaluable to ensuring we had the best possible outcome.” ~Industry Leader