By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu
The university will climax its two-year self-study next week by showcasing its student services and academic strengths to a group of visiting evaluators who will decide if UGA will receive reaccreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The visit by the 20-member SACS “reaffirmation committee” Feb. 25–28 will bring to a close the “study” phase of the self-study, which UGA must conduct every 10 years to be reaccredited by SACS, its major accrediting agency. But self-study director Bob Boehmer says it will also mark the beginning of an “action” phase, as the university begins deciding how to implement some of the dozens of recommendations and suggestions arising from the study.
The university is confident of receiving reaccreditation, and the real value of the self-study, Boehmer says, is that it gave faculty, staff and students a chance to “produce a vision that is owned by the university community. As a result, the likelihood of its implementation is greatly enhanced.”
In addition to showing that it complies with required SACS standards for academic and administrative operations, UGA has used the self-study to identify ways to strengthen undergraduate education, especially in four specific areas: physical facilities, undergraduate research, information technology, and factors that affect the quality of the undergraduate experience.
The visiting SACS team, composed of senior administrators and faculty members from major Southern universities, includes a consultant with expertise in each of the areas of concentration.
In conjunction with the SACS committee visit, a review team from the National Collegiate Athletic Association will also be on campus to evaluate UGA’s athletic program as part of a required NCAA peer-review process.
SACS team members have already received the 700-page report that compiles findings of the self-study and sets out the university’s responses to 500 “must/should” SACS compliance statements. While on campus, team members will hold meetings with the president, the provost and other senior administrators, and will fan out across campus to look in on classrooms, labs and library sites, and interview faculty, staff and students.
The self-study began in 1998 and was conducted almost simultaneously with the creation of UGA’s 10-year strategic plan and development of the physical master plan. Boehmer says one of the university’s main goals will be demonstrating to the team members and consultants how the self-study will mesh with the other long-range plans to help improve undergraduate education.
Letting team members interact with students is integral to the visit because of the emphasis on undergraduate education, Boehmer says. One way that will happen is at the annual Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities symposium, which will be going on at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, where team members will stay. During the symposium, some 200 students will present reports on research projects in the sciences, humanities, law and the arts.
“The CURO symposium was intentionally scheduled for this time so the SACS committee will have an opportunity to meet and talk with students and faculty who are involved in undergraduate research,” Boehmer says.
Students from the Arch Society and the UGA Visitors Center will drive SACS members from the Atlanta airport to Athens, and will be guides and drivers as team members move around campus. Students from University Computing and Networking Services will be available to help with any computer problems or needs team members may have.
Much of the student involvement will be overseen by Margey McQuilkin, self-study coordinator.
The SACS visitors will have their first chance to meet students and faculty at the first major event of the visit—a large banquet Sunday night at the Georgia Center. Students, faculty and self-study committee members who have experience in one of the four areas of emphasis will be seated with the consultant or team member dealing with that area.
Adams will make welcoming remarks and a student choral ensemble from the School of Music will provide entertainment. The chairs of the SACS and NCAA teams—William Jenkins, president of the Louisiana State University System, and V. Lane Rawlins, president of Washington State University—will speak.
Over the next two days, SACS team members will go to classrooms, labs, residence and dining halls, library areas and other sites to view university operations and talk with students, faculty and staff.
The visit will end with an “exit report” to Adams and other senior administrators at which the team will present its findings. The university will have a chance to respond to the report, and the team’s final report is expected in late March.
The formal decision to grant reaccreditation will be made at the SACS annual meeting in December.
Boehmer says he will meet with Adams following the exit report to discuss a follow-up committee to implement recommendations from the self-study and advice from the SACS team.
“The visitation of the SACS committee is by no means the end of the self-study,” Boehmer says. “The self-study steering committee has stressed to me from the very beginning the importance of a follow-up plan. The self-study report is now finalized, and when we receive the visitation-team final report, my intent is that an expanded self-study committee will facilitate the process of enhancing the undergraduate experience.” |
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