Peer review team members from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Commission on Colleges will be on campus today and tomorrow as part of the process for Nicholls to remain an accredited university.The team arrived yesterday to begin reviewing the University’s compliance report and Quality Enhancement Plan. After reviewing documents and interviewing Nicholls faculty, staff and students, the team will present its on-site report to the University administration Friday morning. The final decision will be announced in December.
“Accreditation is a big deal,” Allayne Barrilleaux, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, said. “Without regional accreditation Nicholls loses federal money, which funds Pell grants, work-study grants, etc. Over $15 million out of our approximately $50 million budget comes from the federal government.”
Nicholls began its re-accreditation process, which must be completed every 10 years, by submitting its Compliance Certification Report in November. The report provided evidence as to how the University meets each of SACS’ 73 criteria.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how much documentation is in this report,” Barrilleaux said. “It is a wealth of information with links to hundreds of documents.”
The SACS offsite team found that Nicholls complied with all standards, but had questions on five criteria, Barrilleaux said. She then sent a focused report back to the team responding to its questions. Questions centered on whether Nicholls has communicated its revised mission statement, how results of annual plans and plan assessments are used, why data on the student learning evaluations in the department of history and social sciences was incomplete, whether five faculty members have necessary credentials and why contact information for SACS is not published consistently.
“To only have five findings, from what I understand from talking with other universities, is very, very good,” Barrilleaux said. “SACS questioned five of our faculty members’ credentials. Another university had 88 faculty members questioned.”
In addition to examining Nicholls’ five findings, the on-site team will examine the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan, a SACS component requiring universities to devise a plan to increase student learning. After completing student surveys and analyzing graduation exit interviews and ACT data, Nicholls chose critical thinking skills as evident through writing to be the focus of its QEP. The theme of the plan is “L’esprit engag,” or “The Engaged Mind.”
The first goal of the plan is to enhance faculty by creating a Center for Advancing Faculty Engagement (CAFÂ) that would provide faculty training and resources.
“We believe that before we can enhance students, we must enhance faculty and get them trained in the best teaching practices,” Barrilleaux said.
The plan’s other two goals center on creating collaborative learning environments for students and increasing students’ critical thinking through their writing. Collaborative learning environments involve grouping students into three of the same classes together and developing a common theme that could be related to those three subjects.
“It’s evident that some students don’t know how to learn and don’t know how to study,” Barrilleaux said. “The plan tries to engage them in different learning strategies that will help increase their critical thinking.”
The SACS team will make recommendations on the University’s QEP and may ask Nicholls to write a report in response to their comments.
Barrilleaux said the University has worked hard in preparation for this visit, and she has been pleased with Nicholls’ results thus far.
“People in this University always come together,” Barrilleaux said. “I have had a great response from them in helping put together more information for the team. This accreditation gives us the chance to validate what we do and show we are a quality institution in terms of academic programs and how we serve the community.
