TCU reapplies
Committee to begin plans for re-accreditation

By Melissa Christensen
Staff Reporter

TCU is laying the groundwork for the re-accreditation process that allows disbursement of federal money, permits credit transfers between educational institutions and offers credibility to TCU degrees.

Accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is required for TCU to be recognized by other universities and the U.S. Department of Education. Institutions must reapply for the qualification every 10 years.

The three-year process, directed by Alan Shepard, English department chair and associate professor of English, begins with a self-study to determine TCU’s compliance with the SACS Criteria for Accreditation handbook. A written report is due to SACS by fall 2002.

Shepard said committees comprised of faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, alumni and trustees are being formed to observe and make recommendations in five areas: institutional purpose, institutional effectiveness, educational programs, educational support services and administrative processes.

“The process creates a strong institution to give students what they need,” Shepard said. “It sets up a larger pattern of self-policing.”

A visiting committee of 15 to 20 college administrators and senior faculty members from other schools in the southern region will observe the same five areas at TCU during a four-day visit in spring 2003, said Gerald Lord, associate executive director of the SACS Commission on Colleges. The peer review recommendations will be returned to TCU in fall 2003.

“It is then TCU’s responsibility to respond to those recommendations, either to refute them or to describe what they have done in response,” Lord said.

Re-accreditation for TCU will be decided at the SACS general assembly in December 2003.

“It is really a well-orchestrated, defined process,” said Bob Seal, university librarian and associate director of the accreditation process. “We hope the university will be better when we are through.”

Committee heads have been chosen, but no students have been appointed yet.

“We are recruiting first- or second-year students for committees so that they can see the whole process through,” Shepherd said. “It’s a good opportunity for anyone interested not only in TCU’s future, but in how higher education works as well.”

When TCU was re-accredited in January 1994, recommendations in the written report from the visiting committee included improving communication between administration and faculty assemblies and installing smoke detectors and fire alarms in buildings where they did not exist.

SACS is one of six regional accreditation associations. Covering 11 states from Texas to Virginia, SACS accredits nearly 800 colleges and universities, Lord said.

Melissa Christensen
missic@usa.net