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Western Carolinian Volume 61 Number 04 (05)

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  • Western Carolinian September 21,1995 News Western Comes up for Re-accreditation by Ray Wilkinson StaffReporter Every 10 years each university in the United States must go through a re-accreditation process. There are six regional accrediting agencies throughout the U.S. For the southeast that agency is called The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). SACS prints a booklet that lists the accreditation requirements for all areas of university life. This includes academics, faculty, student development, housing, financial status of the university, etc. The university must meet all of these requirements in order to earn re-accreditation. Many students are unaware of the importance of a university's accreditation. All graduate schools and most employers require that a student must have a bachelors degree from an accredited university. "Accreditation maintains a level of quality that universities must meet so that when students look for a job or move from one university to another, either as a transfer student or going on to graduate school, everyone can be assured of the level of quality of education that was offered at the first university," said Dr. Frank Prochaska, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Physics, who is Chair and Self-Study Director. The last time Western Carolina University went through this re-accreditation process was 1984-1986. Now WCU is going through this process again. In order to prepare for this evaluation 18 different committees, composed of faculty and students, have been formed for the purpose of evaluating different aspects of university life at WCU. The information obtained by these committees have been compiled into one self-study report that will be made available to students and faculty at the beginning of October. This report will state whether WCU is meeting these requirements or not. If these committees find that some of these requirements are not being met then they must state in the report the actions that should be taken to bring WCU into compliance with these stipulations. This report will be sent to the SACS office in Atlanta, Georgia, where it will be reviewed by a committee. This committee will then visit the campus on March 25-28 and verify the contents of the report. The visiting committee will write a report that will be sent to the SACS office in Atlanta and will be reviewed by a re-accreditation committee composed of faculty and administration from universities outside North Carolina. This committee will decide if WCU should be reaccredited. Western's self-study committees have found that WCU meets almost all of these requirements. "We have found no major problems," said Prochaska. "Western Carolina meets the major requirements quite well. We have, however, identified some small things that need improvement." October will be dedicated to university-wide review of the self-study report draft. Open forums will be held the second half of October. Faculty and students are invited to attend these forums and are encouraged to make suggestions. Members of the Steering Committee will be there to listen and record these suggestions and answer questions. Also, copies of the self-study draft will be on reserve in Hunter Library for students to read. By the end of October, all recorded suggestions will be compiled and incorporated in the final draft of the self-study report. In February the final report will be sent to the visiting committee. "These committee members will look at everything the university does," said Prochaska. "They're going to talk to students, faculty and administration. They will visit offices and pull many files to verify that we do what we said we do in the report." SACS will announce their final decision on Western's re-accreditation in December 1996. Beating the Bushes for Buddy Ellard Simms (played by Western Carolina University sophomore Steve Bryson) goes in search of a elusive chipmunk named Buddy in a scene from WCU's production oflthe comedy "The Foreigner." The Play, which opens Western's 1995-96 theatre season, will be staged Tuesday, Sept. 26, through Saturday, Sept. 30, at Hoey Auditorium. Show time is 7:30pm. For ticket information, call (704) 227-7491. WCU Photo by Mark Haskett
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