As you know, our college will receive an important accreditation site visit from WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) next month. A team of eight commissioners and one assistant is scheduled to be visiting our district from March 9 to March 12.
Tremendous amount of work district-wide has yielded a beautiful document called The Institutional Self-Study for Reaffirmation of Accreditation 2009. It is thorough, honest, and forward-looking. A hard copy is located in the hallway of A-20 for all to peruse, but the entire document is available online here. The best way to familiarize yourself with the self-study is to click on a section to read whenever you have a few minutes to spare. You might wish to focus on the "Descriptive Summaries" in the document and the ten "Planning Agendas," which have been assembled together here. Every faculty member in particular should read the section on Standard II. A--Instructional Programs.
You may also want to attend the "Dialogue on the 2009 Self-Study Planning Agendas" scheduled to be held in SU-18 on Wed. Feb. 18 from 1 to 2pm.
The accreditation team will most likely visit other Palomar locations, even as far as Ramona, beyond the main campus. Everyone should get ready to be interviewed. But be confident and honest and continue to do the good job that you have been doing.
Another thing that we can do to prepare for the site visit is make sure that all of our websites are updated. So now is the time to review any Palomar-related website you may have.
Cynicism and apathy aside, we should all want our college to pass this round of accreditation scrutiny with flying colors. After all, this is where we work. This is where we live our professional lives day in and day out. But I hope you agree with me that ours is a great college with top-notch faculty and dedicated staff, all working together to serve vital educational needs of our community. Just look at our dept.!
So please take some time to visit Palomar's accreditation website today.
No comments:
Post a Comment