2004 SACS / COC Meeting
Professional Development Session 10
The New Role of Accreditation Liaison
Dr. Donna K. Wilkinson, Associate Executive Director, SACS/COC
Ms. Patricia Hardeman, Accreditation Liaison, Wesleyan College, Macon, GA
Dr. Kenneth W. Spackman, Accreditation Liaison, UNC-Wilmington, NC
Donna Wilkinson
· Accreditation Liaison is a mandatory assignment for member institution under the new Principles
· Someone other than institutional CEO
Patricia Hardeman
· Umbrella of integrity rules everything
· Remember your name goes on the document the institution submits to SACS
· Three important areas in the Accreditation Liaison role
o Preparing
o Planning
o Coordination
· Preparing
o Preparing constituencies
§ Yourself
· Attend SACS/COC national meeting
· Read and understand the Principles
· Know basic steps in the process and the timeline
· Become with all the materials provided in both Handbooks (for the institution and for the reviewers)
· Review accreditation websites of 2004 cohort
· Study the SACS website, esp. section on SACS/COC policies and position statements
§ Institution
· Orient the campus community through faculty meetings, Senate meetings
· Work with the CEO to carefully select the members of the Leadership Team (“workhorses” and those who have knowledge needed)
· Develop institutional master calendar for the reaccredidation process (work backwards from 12/2008)
· Develop an administrative budget to ensure that we have budget to cover travel, fees, books, offsite review, onsite visit, etc
· Identify dedicated space to work
· Develop a long-term schedule of committee and team meetings with dedicated time
§ Leadership Team
· Each member needs to have knowledge of accreditation history of the institution
· Know and have common understanding all the components of core requirements and comprehensive standards (pay attention to each word in requirements and standards)
· Develop and assign duties and responsibilities within the Leadership Team (e.g., compliance certification, QEP, website + identify a recorder)
· Make sure the members put the travel they will need to do on their calendars (e.g., SACS Annual Meetings, SACS orientation for the Leadership Team, SACS Summer Institute)
· Planning with the Leadership Team
o Help them to understand and develop
§ Strategies to address and accomplish the compliance audit
§ List of documents / evidence needed. Tip: Have as many documents in electronic format as possible (make sure you indicate the number of the document version, e.g., “version5”)
o Identify due dates and persons responsible for specific items and issues
o Design strategy to develop the QEP
§ Study institutional research / assessment data, esp. related to student learning (Remember: student learning is a key component of the whole reaffirmation process)
· Student satisfaction data
· Student performance data
§ Identify strengths and weaknesses as related to student learning
§ Initiate campus discussion based on the key strengths and weaknesses. Seek their input
§ Study the input and identify the focused theme for the QEP
· Coordination
o You must regularly attend committee and subcommittee meetings
o “Do gentle little nudge” if someone is lagging behind
o Make sure that you communicate with your SACS staff liaison on a regular basis
o Plan early for your on-site visit
o Adhere to the timeline you developed
o Develop a checklist of all the task need to be accomplished. Remember you sign-off on the Compliance Certification and QEP
Donna Wilkinson
· Umbrella of integrity
· Ensure the integrity of the documents
· Regularly revise the SACS/COC website for updates (esp. a couple of weeks after June and December COC meetings)
Kenneth Spackman
Ongoing Duties of Accreditation Liaison
· Institutional Profile reporting
· Serving as Campus Information Resource Person for SACS
· Substantive Change Reporting
· Institutional Profile Reports. SACS Liaison is responsible for coordination of the completion and timely submission of Institutional Profile reports
o Two kinds of annual SACS requests for Institutional Profile reports
§ Late Fall
· Enrollment
§ Late Spring (June)
· Revenues, expenditures, assets, liabilities
· Campus Information Resource Person for SACS and campus constituencies
o Maintain a central location for SACS documents, policies, records of correspondence, copies of reports, SACS publications, etc.
o Serve as a contact persons for questions from SACS and campus constituencies
o Know new policies that are developed on campus and ensure that are aligned with SACS requirements
o Remember that you are responsible for familiarizing the campus with the implications of new Principles
§ What the impact will be
§ What changes need to be done
§ What kind of documents need to be collected
o Incorporate Principles in strategic planning, evaluation, assessment
o Remember to look not just for best practices but also think about the best fit for the campus culture
· Substantive Change Reporting (least understood responsibility of SACS liaison)
o Examples of Substantive Change
§ Dual-degree program in consortium arrangements
§ Establishing a branch campus
§ New programs at a more advanced level
§ Changing program delivery mode (e.g., offering online program)
§ Extension programs
o Review SACS policy on Substantive Change http://www.sacscoc.org/pdf/sub%20change%20final.pdf and SACS presentation http://www.sacscoc.org/annmtg/presentations/CS-6%20Substantive%20Change.pdf
o Substantive Change reports range from 20 minutes to 20 months – study the policy!
o Do not assume that Deans and Department Heads are aware of the policy
Donna Wilkinson
Appropriate Format for the Reports Sent to SACS
· In Compliance Certification, Focused and Response Reports use past tense – emphasize what the institution has done so far to support its claim of compliance and/or address the concerns of the reviewers. Only if you can not make the case for compliance, describe your plans
· Keep the writing clear and concise. The winner is not the institution that submits most pages, but the institution that documents its compliance most efficiently
· Remember your audience – commission members are busy people. If your report is clear and concise, you will be very well appreciated
· Package reports appropriately
o Do Not Use Ring Binders
o Use spiral bind or paper cover with prongs
o Read the Guidelines
· Include only relevant information (e.g., do not include 8-page summary of the board meeting, if only 2 sentence section matters)
· If you have electronic Catalog, submit a print copy
· How much data do we need to demonstrate compliance?
o Faculty qualifications
§ At least one academic year prior to Compliance Certification
o Assessment
§ Demonstrate ongoing nature of assessment
§ At least three years
§ Demonstrate use of results and document improvements
§ But don’t overload report, put the trend data on CD or website
University Assessment Advisory Committee (UAAC)
Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment
2/20/2005