Moving towards reaccreditation
UB embarks on comprehensive self-study to win Middle States reaccreditation

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The university has embarked upon a comprehensive, two-year, institution-wide process to win reaccreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the unit of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools that accredits degree-granting colleges and universities in the Middle States region.

Reaccreditation is essential for UB, not only because unaccredited institutions cannot offer students federal financial aid, but also because accreditation is an "affirmation that an institution meets basic academic standards," says Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi. To not be accredited is "a disaster," Capaldi adds bluntly.

Beth Del Genio, assistant vice provost for academic affairs and staff coordinator for the accreditation process, agrees.

"We live in an age of accountability, and in this age of accountability, we want to validate to our students, to parents, to taxpayers, to peer institutions, to government officials, etc., that we are providing our students with a very high-quality education," she says. "And an education that not just benefits the students that come on campus, but benefits our community—not only just the Amherst and Buffalo community, but the community in the regional, national and world sense—through our service, through our research and through being a part of transmitting knowledge across generations."

Del Genio notes that the accreditation process also "provides us as a university with an opportunity to really do some in-depth examination, and analysis and assessment of what we're doing in regards to institutional context and educational effectiveness—what we're doing, and how well we're doing it—and are there areas in which we can strive for improvement, what challenges we perceive in the future, and how we can overcome these challenges."

The reaccreditation effort is being led by a Leadership Team appointed by Capaldi and composed of Dennis Malone, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and interim chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering; Gail Brazeau, associate dean for curriculum and academic affairs in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Kerry Grant, vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate school.

Del Genio notes that UB is particularly fortunate to have Malone on the Leadership Team since he oversaw UB's last accreditation effort in 1993 and an interim report in 1998, and provides the team with "historical context."

In addition to the Leadership Team, Capaldi has appointed a Steering Committee to oversee the institutional self-study that is the crux of the accreditation process, Del Genio says, noting that the steering committee is representative of the university community, featuring faculty, administrators, students and professional staff members.

Members of the Steering Committee are Dennis A. Andrejko, associate professor, Department of Architecture; Diane Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of English; Rosemary Dziak, professor, Department of Oral Biology; Lucinda M. Finley, professor, Law School; Dale R. Fish, associate dean for academic affairs, School of Health Related Professions, and Howard G. Foster associate dean, School of Management.

Also, Francis M. Gengo, associate professor, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; James L. Hoot, professor and director, Early Childhood Research Center, Graduate School of Education; Voldemar A. Innus, chief information officer; George J. Lopos, dean, Millard Fillmore College; James S. Nadbrzuch, assistant vice president, Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, and Lorna Peterson, associate professor, Department of Library and Information Studies.

Also, Barbara A. Rittner, associate professor, School of Social Work; Mary Anne Rokitka, clinical associate professor, Department of Physiology; Alan L. Selman, professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and adjunct professor, Department of Mathematics; Margaret R. Wells, director, public services, Arts & Sciences Libraries; Powhatan J. Wooldridge, associate professor/research methodologist, School of Nursing, and Jeannette Molina, assistant vice provost for academic affairs and associate director, Center for Teaching and Learning Resources.

The extensive self-study that the Steering Committee will guide the university through is based on the Standards for Accreditation that have been developed by Middle States "to provide the institution with a method to examine the university," Del Genio says.

The standards cover two broad areas: institutional context and educational effectiveness. Among the 14 individual standards included within the broader areas are such topics as mission, goals and objectives; institutional resources; administration; faculty; student admissions, and general education.

Del Genio notes that steering committee members will chair subcommittees that will investigate each of the 14 standards.

UB's Memorandum of Understanding with SUNY, which outlines specific objectives to achieve the mission and goals of the university, offers UB's accreditation team some assistance in its task, Del Genio says.

"The MOU of course will provide us with guidance as we evaluate and assess and examine UB to make sure that the things that we're doing in regards to resource allocation and planning and educational activities are truly aligned with, and meeting the objectives, as agreed upon by UB and SUNY," she says.

It's helpful as well, she says, to look at the MOU and the standards, "and see how these things are aligned and how we're moving forward to achieve the objectives of the memorandum. As we achieve the objectives in certain areas of the memorandum, then we will move even closer to our mission."

The reaccreditation process actually began late in April, with the first meeting of the Steering Committee. The committee has been meeting regularly since then, Del Genio says.

The Steering Committee has the 14 subcommittee chairs in place, and the subcommittees are working to establish their specific goals and objectives. Once these are established, UB will submit a self-study proposal to Middle States for advice. After that, the subcommittees will begin data acquisition, research and analysis, and each will construct a draft report.

The drafts will be disseminated to other members of the steering committee for their imput. From there, the Leadership Team will put together all the subcommittee draft reports into one draft document. This document will go back to the Steering Committee, and also will be distributed to the general university community for review.

"We want this to be a university process," Del Genio says.

Once all suggestions are integrated into the document, a final version will be submitted to Middle States in late summer 2003. An evaluation team, composed of 8-10 representatives of UB's peer institutions, will come to campus before mid October 2003 to talk to the different university constituencies and examine the data.

The decision on reaccreditation will be made after the site visit.