Accreditation Team Visit Scheduled for March 23-25

SMC is gearing up for a visit later this month from a 12-member Accreditation Team to validate the college’s “Institutional Self-Study for Reaffirmation of Accreditation” and make recommendations on the fulfillment of SMC’s mission and goals.

The Accreditation Team, chaired by Lake Tahoe Community College President Dr. Guy Lease, will be at SMC March 23-25. The team, made up of community college representatives from throughout California and Hawaii, will spend two days on campus meeting with college leaders and other SMC faculty members, administrators, classified employees and students. On the third day, Lease will present an “exit interview,” a kind of preliminary report from the team.

The college has spent about a year preparing for accreditation, which is required every six years. Earlier this year, the campus completed its self-study, a comprehensive document that evaluates everything from institutional effectiveness to physical resources. A new major focus for the accrediting agency – the Western Association of Schools and Colleges – is student learning outcomes.

The self-study co-chairs are Randal Lawson, vice president of academic affairs, and Gordon Dossett, immediate past president of the Academic Senate. The editor is Gina Jerry, a professor of computer information systems.

Public sessions are scheduled for 11:15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 23 in Business Building Room 144. The exit interview will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 25 in the Ilona Katz Board Room.

Copies of the self-study are available in the SMC Library and in department, administrative and constituency organization offices and are posted online. For more information, call ext. 4360.