SACSCOC Decennial Reaffirmation

Introduction

In America, regional accreditation is a cornerstone of higher education and ensures that students receive a quality education from academic institutions that pursue excellence in every facet of their educational experience. Freed-Hardeman University (FHU) is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools-Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The mission of SACSOC is to assure the educational quality and improve the effectiveness of its member institutions. To that end, SACSCOC aspires to six core values:

Integrity
Peer Review / Self-regulation
Student Learning
Continuous Quality Improvement
Accountability
Transparency

The SACSCOC membership has adopted The Principles of Accreditation, which is comprised of the standards used to guide and direct academic institutions in their pursuit of excellence. Every ten years, member institutions are reviewed by their peers to ensure adherence to these standards. Freed-Hardeman will engage in her decennial reaffirmation in 2021. The reaffirmation process will require the cooperation and collaboration of the entire Freed-Hardeman family to share our mission and strengths with our peers. Our journey in reaffirming our accreditation will begin with the commencement of the Fall 2018 semester.

The University's Decennial Reaffirmation Leadership Team (Leadership Team) is composed of the following members:

Mr. David Shannon, President
Dr. Dwayne Wilson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Charles Vires, Provost and Vice President for Academics
Dr. Vicki Johnson, Associate Vice President for Academics
Dr. Margaret Payne, Professor; A-Team Chair
Mr. A.B. White, Director of Institutional Effectiveness; SACSCOC Liaison; A-Team Assistant Chair

The following is a list of significant milestones identified in the reaffirmation timeline:

Reaffirmation Kick Off - Fall Convocation Address by Dr. John Sites	August 2018
Quality Enhancement Plan Topic Selection	May 2019
Compliance Certification Report Due to SACSCOC	September 2020
Quality Enhancement Plan Due to SACSCOC	January 2021
SACSCOC On-Site Visit	March 2021
SACSCOC Board of Trustees Review of Findings	December 2021

In support of the University's upcoming reaffirmation, the Leadership Team has formed the Decennial Reaffirmation A-Team to guide and direct the process under their leadership. The following faculty and staff have been asked to serve in this role:

Dr. Margaret Payne, Chair
Mr. A.B. White, Assistant Chair
Dr. Justin Rogers
Dr. Matt Vega

A-Team Updates

The following are the latest updates from the A-Team:

Date	Title	Description
7/16/2019	Summer 2019 Update	During the Summer, progress was made toward uploading narratives and evidence into the Xitracs reporting system. In addition, the A-Team and Leadership Team consulted with the Cabinet and SACSCOC representatives on addressing core standards.
5/17/2019	Spring 2019 Update	Significant progress toward several goals was made during the Spring 2019 semester as follows: The Leadership team selected three QEP topics for further research by the QEP Topic Selection Committee. The TSC presented their findings to the Leadership Team, and the Leadership Team presented two topics to University stakeholders for a vote. The 68% of voters selected Career Services - Internships. The A-Team continued to work with writers on drafting the narratives and collecting supporting evidence. A significant number of narratives were presented to the A-Team for review. In addition, the A-Team received training from Xitracs in the use of their reporting system.
12/14/2018	Fall 2018 Update	Throughout the Fall 2018 semester, the A-Team collaborated with various groups to accomplish several milestones in the reaffirmation process. These included the following: An audit of standards was performed and a summary was presented to the Leadership Team. A writers' orientation was conducted designed to jumpstart the development of narratives. Throughout the remainder of the semester, A-Team members interacted with writers; narratives were developed and evidence was collected. The Leadership Team and QEP Topic Selection Committee worked together to advance the topic section process. In December, the QEP TSC to the Leadership Team research on potential topics that included qualitative and quantitative data from ongoing assessment processes that confirmed stakeholder support and need. Representatives from FHU attended the 2018 SACSCOC Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA.
7/31/2018	Summer 2018 Update	Over the summer of 2018, members of the Leadership Team and the A-Team were selected for service. In addition, Dr. Rachel Salmon agreed to serve as the QEP Topic Selection chair. A timeline was developed by the Leadership Team that will be used to govern the reaffirmation process. The A-Team reviewed the newly-published 2018 Principles of Accreditation and finalized plans to administer the development of narratives for the Compliance Report. In addition, a style guide was created in support of those faculty and staff who will be writing the narratives. Finally, webpages were created to communicate with University stakeholders as we advance through the reaffirmation process.