By ABBY BRAVO
Editor-in-Chief
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education visited the College last week to conclude their accreditation renewal process. This is an eight-year process that begins after the previous accreditation is complete.
A self-study run by faculty and administrators of the college was conducted over the past two and a half years which highlighted both areas where the school is excelling, as well as where more work needed to be done. The co-chairs of the self-study Steering Committee were Dr. Gerry Lorentz, dean of arts and humanities, and Dr. Dandan Wu, professor of business and finance.
“Everyone on the committee has different backgrounds in terms of institutional knowledge and expertise, which are all necessary for this huge project. I will say we have all been very helpful to each other. We also received enormous amounts of support from outside of the committee throughout the process,” wrote Wu in an email.
The self-study is a very lengthy process, beginning in Fall of 2020 and continued until the Middle States team came to the campus this Spring.
On top of the steering committee, there is a working group consisting of volunteer faculty and staff that focuses on the seven standards and goals listed by Middle States that the school should follow in order to receive accreditation.
“The take away for me is just how much work it takes and that people really stepped up to do that work, whether we were asking for additional information or whether they’re in working groups doing the work, people were all really responsive, which is good,” said Lorentz.
The completed self-study states, “this process of self-reflection provides the opportunity to re-evaluate our effectiveness in fulfilling our mission and to reaffirm our role as a college committed to transforming the lives of our students,” ensuring that this process is meant to grow the college in a positive way.
“As we’re developing a strategic plan for the college, a new strategic plan, we’re also identifying priorities for the self-study. So the institution gets to identify what our priorities are and then we align those priorities with the middle state standards,” said Provost Margaret McLane, who was heavily involved in the self-study process.
Members of the self-study committee and others involved could not comment on the initial comments from the Middle States Commission during their on-campus sessions, but the College losing accreditation is not something that administrators and faculty who were involved are worried about.
“So we don’t have the final report but I’m not concerned,” said McLane. “We’ve identified the ways that we meet the standards, we’ve identified ways to improve. And you know, Middle States accreditation is about the institution as a whole and where you are with respect to the standards and what your processes are… it’s not a checklist of yes and no,” she added.
This process was something that was taken on by the entire campus community as everyone was able to work together and be involved however they could be.
“It was absolutely a community effort,” said Dr. Steven Hoff, a member of the Steering Committee. “The visit was very well planned, and included representatives from all over the College, including students, staff, faculty, and administrators.”
The official report from Middle States does not come out until June of this year as there are still a few more steps in the process, but according to those involved, their visit went smoothly. “They asked questions we expected them to ask and we were ready with our answers, so in that respect I would say that there were no surprises,” said McLane.
The full self-study report along with standards provided by Middle States can be found on the Saint Rose website.
