Institutional effectiveness in question
SACS evaluation reports some faculty feel excluded, unaware

By Melissa Christensen
Staff Reporter

Although TCU received full re-accreditation in January 1994, the university was not in compliance with the institutional effectiveness criteria set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Doubt still exists seven years later that the requirement for a broad-based, comprehensive planning and evaluation system will be met in the 2003 re-accreditation process.

Provost William Koehler said the Commission on the Future of TCU was a highlyparticipatory planning process that was necessary, but not sufficient, to fulfill the SACS criteria.

“For the most part, yes, TCU is in compliance,” Koehler said. “One could probably argue effectively that we are not, but it depends how close and how detailed you want to look at it.”

The SACS visiting committee echoed findings of the TCU self-study committee that those details were not in place in 1994.
According to the SACS evaluation, TCU faculty felt it was excluded from most planning processes. The evaluation also stated faculty and staff were not aware of the SACS requirement for a comprehensive planning process.

While the association does not set specific ramifications, SACS requires a planning process that incorporates all aspects of the university and provides communication of those plans to all university officials, faculty and staff.

Chancellor Michael Ferrari said the results of the commission have supplied enough planning commitments and involved enough faculty, students and staff to satisfy the criteria.

“The Commission on the Future was indeed a comprehensive planning process that provides a sound basis for the continuing directions of the university,” he said. “It is my sense that our planning processes, including the relatively new mission and vision statements, are aligned with the goals of the university and will enhance our evaluation of institutional effectiveness as defined by SACS.”

After receiving the 1994 SACS report that the university was not in compliance with institutional effectiveness, TCU established a four-year plan to meet the criteria in its September 1994 written response to SACS. However, that response was retracted and Koehler refuted the allegation in November 1994. The second statement indicated that plans developed by various divisions of the university were forwarded to a central planning committee, thus fulfilling the requirement of a broad-based, comprehensive planning and evaluation system.

Koehler was not available to comment on the 1994 retraction due to an illness.

Administrators and faculty said improvements in the area of institutional effectiveness are now fully visible.

Scott Sullivan, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said the 10 goals established by Ferrari in his Fall Convocation speech meet the SACS requirement.

“The assessment of the university curriculum requirements is an excellent example of institutional effectiveness that TCU is undergoing,” he said.

Nowell Donovan, Moncrief chair of geology and a member of the 1994 self-study committee that focused on institutional effectiveness, said one of the biggest problems that prevented TCU from fulfilling the criteria in 1994 was communication.

“The problem was almost accidental,” he said. “The top of the hierarchy felt they were communicating with the faculty, but the faculty said they felt nobody communicated with them. There were blockage points in the information flow.”

Donovan said planning and programs implemented under Ferrari have allowed the university to progress.

“I think more of a significant, cultural change brought about by the chancellor can be credited,” he said. “The communication flow is improved.”

Sullivan said the current communication flow at TCU is typical of most universities.

“The organization is streamlined, going from the provost to deans to department chairs to faculty, and it works the same on the way up,” he said.

Donovan described the institutional effectiveness aspect of a university as a continuous assessment process. He said TCU is still trying to improve.

“It’s like a great big recycling machine trying to get to nirvana,” he said. “There is no guarantee that the first decisions will work. You have to have wisdom in the planning process and communicate your vision.”

Melissa Christensen
m.s.christense@student.tcu.edu.