What is Accreditation?Why so much effort?
By Jane Sherman
WSU has entered on a two-year course of putting itself under a microscope. It’s called Accreditation. To most of us it’s a vague word-frankly, with boring connotations. To colleges and universities, it simply means that someone, somewhere, has put a stamp of approval on what they do. But why do they need that stamp, and what does an institution like WSU go through to get it?
At one level, accreditation tells the world that the university, overall, is doing a good job.
At a more practical level, the federal government will only give financial aid to students at accredited colleges and universities. And other institutions will only recognize credits and degrees from accredited institutions.
Professional associations accredit many separate units of the university-like the College of Business and Economics and the College of Engineering and Architecture. Those are rigorous and focused evaluations of particular programs. But institutional accreditation looks at the entire university-from our role and mission to our physical facilities-from our most conceptual statements of who we are and what we want to be to the nuts and bolts of what we have to work with and how we do it.
Our accreditation is reaffirmed every 10 years. Last spring we began a two-year process that will lead to accreditation continuing from 2000-2010.
WSU has "always" been accredited. Do we really think we could lose our accreditation? No, of course not. As long as we take the process seriously, and portray ourselves accurately, our accreditation will be reaffirmed.
In 1990, however, the evaluation team from the Commission on Colleges of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges made 10 specific, overall recommendations and dozens more about various university programs and activities. In a five-year interim report in 1995, WSU described how it had responded to those recommendations.
On the one hand, we would like to elicit the fewest possible recommendations this time. In a sense, that would affirm that we are not only doing a good job, but also improving over time. On the other hand, we know that we can benefit from an external, objective look at what we do. The team’s recommendations will point our attention toward areas that need work, and may suggest helpful solutions. So we will value the input, and view the team as a partner and consultant in our efforts toward continuous improvement.
Right now, six different committees, guided by a steering committee, have begun the work of responding in writing to 35 standards, each of which may have from two to 12 substandards. Committee members include faculty, staff, students and administrators. Other university community members in all areas will be involved in gathering and analyzing information. Meetings of all committees will be announced and open.
Out of this work will come a self-study, 200-300 page document. We will complete the first draft by next spring, review, edit and refine it over the summer and fall, and send the final version by January, 1999.
Then, on April 14-16, 1999, we will have a team of 16 evaluators on campus listening, looking and questioning. In June, 1999, the commission will adopt a report and make its decision about our continued accreditation.
So, we are beginning a process that will reach into every corner of the university and-in some way-reach the attention of virtually every WSU community member over the next two years.
Provost Gretchen M. Bataille has charged a steering committee and six subcommittees to begin the university’s self-evaluation as WSU organizes for Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation.
Each committee has been assigned accreditation standards, ranging from education effectiveness to physical resources, and will seek input from university units in the coming months. Members then will analyze the data and prepare a report that will be organized into a university assessment document.
Assessment is key throughout the entire accreditation process, explained Jane Sherman, a former Higher Education Coordinating Board staff member who will oversee the university-wide effort. "(Assessment) will be reflected in all parts of the self-study documents.
The self-study is an opportunity to detail what we are doing well and identify those things that need improvement," she said. "We will analyze what we are doing and, in some cases, how to do it differently."
The Accreditation Steering Committee, chaired by Geoff Gamble, leads the assessment effort. The 15-member group will ensure that all aspects of the accreditation process are addressed in the self-study.
Subcommittee reports are due to the steering committee next spring. The steering committee will prepare the self-study and expects to have it ready for university-wide review in October, 1998. By early 1999, Sherman said the document will be ready for the site visit team members who will visit the campus in mid-April 1999.
Accreditation Steering Committee: Geoff Gamble (chair), Sue McLeod, Karen DePauw, Bob Altenkirch, Jim Rimpau, Al Jamison, Dave Stock, Mary Doyle, Jim Cochran, Jim Zuiches, Muriel Oaks, Sandi Vibber, Jane Sherman, Mary Wack and Steve Nakata.
Committee I - Standard 2, Education Program and its Effectiveness: Sue McLeod and Karen DePauw, co-chairs.
Subcommittee on General and Undergraduate Education: Sue McLeod (chair), Dick Law, Jane Lawrence, Denny Davis, Howard Grimes and Michael Chin.
Subcommittee on Graduate Issues: Karen DePauw (chair), Micki Archuleta, Steve Burkett, Nick Foit, Mike Kahn, Gene Schreckhise, Gail Chermak and Mary Gardiner.
Subcommittee on Educational Assessment: Mary Wack (chair), John Tarnai, Bill Condon, Steve Nakata, Jay Wright and Mike Trevisan.
Subcommittee on Distance Learning: Muriel Oaks (chair), Janet Kendall, Rob McDaniel, Eileen Oliver, Jay Teachman and Jim Henson.
Committee II - Standards 1,6 and 9, Mission and Goals, Governance and Administration, and Institutional Integrity: Bob Altenkirch (chair), Greg Royer, Deborah Love, Alex Hammond, John Crane, Sandi Brabb and Halbert Kerr.
Committee III - Standards 7 and 8, Finance and Physical Resources: Jim Rimpau (chair), Karl Boehmke, Greg Sheridan, Laura Hubbard, Sandi Vibber, Tom Brigham and Mike Malcolm.
Committee IV - Standard 3, Students: Al Jamison (chair), Neil Walker, Marcia Saneholtz, Joan Menzies, Larry Davis, Milton Lang and Angela Jones.
Committee V - Standard 4, Faculty: Dave Stock (chair), Margaret Bruya, Sally Horton, Don Matteson, Nancy McKee and Tim Hunt.
Committee VI - Standard 5, Library and Information Resources: Mary Doyle (chair), Bill Gray, John Webb, Tom Faulkner, Mike Myers, Leslie Wykoff and David Sclar.
