Every 10 years, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS and COC) require universities and schools all over the southern U.S. to have their accreditation reaffirmed. For Longwood University it is no different, only this year the university must go through a process called the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).
Dr. McRae Amoss, QEP Director and professor of French in the English and Modern Languages Department, described the process as a set of changes or actions the university will implement in order to improve student learning outcomes in a particular area of study. Amoss said it simply comes down to submitting a document saying what changes the university will make within a five-year period, making sure it has the money to implement such changes and then explaining how the university will measure that change. "It should make a significant difference," said Amoss.
Amoss' job as director requires him to do the coordinating and document how the QEP committee arrives at any particular conclusion or situation.
Although the process only goes through three steps, explaining and measuring these steps for an entire university can prove to be daunting, as the first step is to identify what topic the QEP will measure. Amoss explained that SACS expects the QEP committee at each university to gather ideas for what can be changed throughout the university community.
In this case, Longwood took suggestions from students, faculty and staff, as well as alumni. Focus groups were then held to not only gather this information but also to refine the narrowed-down proposals to be sent into SACS. "At this point, the focus groups were to evaluate the four topics we had already chosen," said Amoss.
Last semester, President Patrick Finnegan had sent out an email to the Longwood community to urge them to suggest topics for the QEP.
The committee is currently composed of 15 faculty and staff representatives along with one student representative, junior Ben Tyree. These members were appointed by Finnegan last semester.
The committee looked through all the suggestions they had received and then grouped them into 10 categories. Another message was sent out to students for them to rate what they thought needed the most attention at Longwood. Afterwards, students were invited to come speak to the committee directly.
Just before spring break, the committee narrowed down the topics to four where a preliminary proposal was then prepared to be evaluated. "It's important that we have involvement because that is something we will be judged on by SACS as well," said Amoss.
The committee will be presenting and discussing what they have so far at a faculty meeting this Thursday and then at the next Student Government Association meeting on Tuesday, April 3. They will be looking for as much feedback as possible on the chosen topics. The next step is an email that will call for another survey to be taken on the chosen four. Amoss remarked, "The QEP is focusing on the future of Longwood."
