About every 10 years, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS) evaluates Longwood University to see if the university meets their standards and qualifies for reaffirmation of accreditation. SACS now has 80 plus standards, and the university is working on a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) in order to meet them.
QEP Director and Professor of French Dr. McRae Amoss said SACS has an on-site team that will visit the university in spring 2014 to review the QEP and make sure people in the Longwood community are aware of it. The goal is for the QEP to be decided this year, developed next year and presented to the on-site team that spring.
The QEP will most likely be implemented in five to six years. There are currently four topic proposals for the plan, which were introduced in detail at the April 3 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting.
Longwood President Patrick Finnegan appointed a QEP Topic Selection Committee composed of faculty and staff, which divided into four subcommittees; each group will propose a possible topic for the plan.
After careful evaluation and gathering student, faculty and staff input on each plan, the official plan will be decided and begin development.
One possible QEP is "Making Internships Work for Students," which was developed by Cheryl Adkins, Brenda Atkins, Dr. Jason Milne, Tracy Nelson, Dr. Cathy Roy, Mary Meade Saunders and Nancy Shelton, as well as Sarah Hobgood.
Essentially, the aim of "Making Internships Work for Students" would be to give all students an equal and consistent internship experience.
In a focus group consisting of students, faculty and staff, Amoss said one participant suggested students have more access to international internships as a part of this plan. Another focus group attendee voiced they thought it was important that no centralized office prevented students from fulfilling specific major needs in their internships.
Dr. Jennifer Capaldo, Dr. Jackie Hall, Dr. David Locascio and Billy Tucker developed the topic proposal "Developing the Citizen Leader through Global Diversity." The goal of this topic would basically be to help students travel abroad more and aid international students in getting more involved on campus. Amoss said a focus group participant thought there should be an emphasis on international students already at Longwood.
Dr. Jake Milne, assistant professor of sociology, proposed the topic "Creating Knowledge in the 21st Century: Citizen Leaders Engaging in Undergraduate Research." This topic would focus on helping more students participate in undergraduate research that could help improve students' understanding of their major and be presented at national conferences. An SGA senator and a focus group attendee suggested graduate research should be included in the topic.
"Active Citizen Leadership in a Culturally Diverse World" was developed by Dr. Jamie Riley and Susan Stinson, as well as Dr. Chris McGee and Dr. Heather Lettner-Rust. This focuses on increasing student knowledge and appreciation of diversity on campus as well as crossing meeting people of different cultures to create more effective student leaders. Part of this plan would be sections of English 400 and LSEM classes dedicated to diversity.
Surveys regarding students, faculty and staff opinions on Longwood's QEP were distributed last month, and Amoss said a survey asking members of the Longwood community which of the four topics they feel will improve student learning at Longwood the most will be released later this week.
Amoss said feedback from surveys and the previous focus groups can help improve the plans.
Many students, faculty and staff may wonder why SACS has these standards for reaffirmation. Dr. Virginia Kinman, director of SACS Compliance Certification, associate professor and electronic resources librarian, explained, "If you were going to use a service as a business ... you'd want to know that somebody else looked at them and made sure they met basic standards. And accreditation for colleges and universities is like that."
Kinman said that Longwood remaining "fully accredited and in good standing" will benefit students. According to Kinman, without accreditation, Longwood would "probably not be in operation."
SACS accreditation allows Longwood to offer federal financial aid to students and for academic credits to be accepted by Longwood and transfer to other universities.
Kinman mentioned being part of an accredited university can help Longwood alumni when they search for jobs. "You've got a glorified agree," she said.
Kinman added that President of the Commission on Colleges Dr. Belle Wheelan said an additional interpretation of SACS is Students Are Central to Success. Kinman said, "That really encompasses what we do and why we're here."
Students, faculty and staff interested in finding out more about the QEP can visit the Longwood University website and complete the upcoming email survey.
