The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaffirmation of accreditation begins this month and the entire Health Science Center community will play a vital role in helping ensure that our institution meets or exceeds the SACS’ standards. The SACS accreditation is required for the Health Science Center to have all of the privileges and status of a fully-accredited educational institution.
The SACS Commission on Colleges re-evaluates regionally accredited institutions up to every 10 years, examining all academic and administrative functions.
Theresa Chiang, Ed.D., vice president for academic administration and the Health Science Center’s institutional liaison with the SACS, is leading the overall reaffirmation process.
“The SACS accreditation process has changed since previous years,” Dr. Chiang said. “Some 74 standards have been set by the SACS and we must provide a response, based on a self-assessment of our practices and procedures, to demonstrate to reviewers that we meet each of the standards. This will require participation and contributions from all sectors of the Health Science Center. Consequently, it is important that the entire campus is aware that this extensive, in-depth self-assessment will be ongoing through the spring of 2007.”
Each Executive Committee member has designated a liaison who will be responsible for working with others in their area to ensure that standards are met and will coordinate the compilation of evidence of compliance with standards relevant to their area. Sally Blakley, Ph.D., director of institutional analysis, is facilitating the collection of information needed for the reaffirmation review.
All evidence of compliance with the SACS standards will be consolidated and posted on a Web site that will be accessed by external peer reviewers for an initial determination of whether the Health Science Center has met each of the 74 standards. All information must be on the Web site by spring 2007 for the initial review – a year before a peer-educator team visits the campus for the final review in 2008.
President Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., has set a goal for the Health Science Center to meet or exceed all of the SACS’ standards when our institution is initially reviewed.
“The focus of the SACS is on assuring the quality of student learning,” Dr. Cigarroa said. “This institutional accreditation review provides us with the opportunity to show our dedication to excellence in educating future health care professionals and biomedical researchers. As a team, we will demonstrate that we are a state-of-the-art institution.”
The last SACS accreditation process took place in 1998 when it granted the Health Science Center maximum re-accreditation–10 years.
