FSU Accreditation Begins with Self-Study Report

Each year FSU is evaluated by the Middle State Commission of Higher Education (MSCHE) in regards to whether or not the school should be nationally accredited. Accreditation means “strengthening and sustaining higher education, making it worthy of public confidence and minimizing the scope of external control,” according to Middle State Commission of Higher Education.

Middle States vision is to assure higher education’s public that its accredited institutions are fulfilling their stated purposes and addressing the public’s expectations, according to MSCHE’s website.

“Re-accreditation provides the school with state and federal funds and allows students degrees to have a higher weight when coming from an accredited school. Without funds we lose students and without students, you lose a university,” said Dr. Sydney Duncan, department chair and professor of the Frostburg State University (FSU) English Department. Accreditation allows for FSU to prosper and grow as a school and community.

Students and teachers can help by communicating and voicing their opinion. Students should fill out surveys with the title, “Middle States Commission” to give the university feedback on what areas it needs to improve on.  In addition, students can attend campus-wide events involving feedback on dorm halls, the cafeteria and Lane facilities. Providing feedback allows the school to improve and fix problematic issues.

Students invest money in their education and the facilities on campus, and should take advantage of the opportunities to voice their opinions. The self-study process is a campus-wide effort that all students can participate in. The report involves a design for self-study, visit and approval, peer review, and possible follow up process.

In March, Dr. Andrea Lex of MSCHE will help prepare the committee chairs on writing the self-study report. After this process is complete, the working groups will meet once per month to discuss the needs and strategies for data collection to begin in fall 2014.

In April, there will be a campus-wide event to publicize self-study that allows the committee to get feedback from students and teachers. The campus-wide event will be held on May 9, 2014 to submit the first interim report. From August 2014 through April 2015, the committee will continue to meet monthly to discuss the report.

From October to December, the committee will continue working on the report and receive campus work feedback. Then, in December 2015, the final version of report will be due to MSCHE.

All these meetings and work will help to improve the campus. According to MSCHE, accreditation helps to attest to whether the institution has a mission appropriate to higher education and is guided by well defined appropriate goals including goals for student learning. Accreditation also ensures institutions have established conditions and procedures under which its mission and goals can be realized.

Filling out surveys and participating in focus groups discussions such as the Sustaining Dialogue series can “help make the university better,” according to Dr. Rhodes, FSU Associate Provost.

FSU wants to match the mission and strategic plan with the standards of excellence. The university truly cares about this process and students should too, according to Duncan.

Next time a survey pops up in an email, students should take a few minutes to fill it out. After all, nothing can get done without communication.