East Tennessee State University has been selected by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to be one of the eight institutions I the 15 states of the southern region to pilot criteria for determining accreditation.
SACS is the regional accrediting body for universities, colleges and schools in the South, and is one of the six accreditation agencies in the nation.
ETSU President Paul Stanton views the university’s selection as a pilot institution as a significant honor for the university community and a signal from SACS that “ETSU is a healthy institution capable of undertaking this exciting, but challenging, pilot process.”
“We regard this selection as a recognition of our commitment to quality and accountability as well as an opportunity to provide service to the association and all member inisitiutions as the new criteria are further refined,” he said.
Two years ago, SACS appointed a task force with representation from universities and colleges across the South to develop new standards for accreditation. These are the first major changes in the accreditation evaluation process in more than a decade.
“The new standards are very much in accord with the current national thinking that universities and colleges should be able to provide evidence to the public, state legislature, federal government, and to themselves that accountability can be demonstrated,” said Dr. Bert C. Bach, ETSU provost and vice president for academic affairs.
“The expected results of the new criteria and the institutional peer evaluation process will include a greater focus on institutional self-evaluation and renewal, documenting student achievement and mission-driven programming.
Primarily, the new criteria will highlight areas of excellence within the institution and support its progress in areas where improvement is needed,” Bach said.
As an additional groundbreaking dimension of the pilot, ETSU has agreed to communicate all reports and documents involved in the evaluation process to SACS and reviewers via the Internet. ETSU’s Web-based documentation of its reaffirmation process will be the first within the SACS region.
Colleges and schools accredited by SACS are required to undergo a reaffirmation process every 10 years. In accepting the role as pilot, ETSU is accelerating its self-study calendar by a year, seeking reaffirmation after nine years. The university will spend the next year and a half undertaking a thorough self-evaluation according to the new standards, with reaffirmation anticipated in December 2002.
The seven other SACS institutions joining ETSU in this pilot project are: Texas A&M, Radford University, Transyl-vania University, Morris College, Richland Community College, John Tyler Community College and Memphis College of Art.

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