Governor cites 3 E’s to move state forward


Volume 42, Issue 9. Today is .

February 1, 2005

MCC readies for visit by accrediting commission

Jamar Younger
Mesa Legend

A portion of MCC’s faculty members and staff have been working tirelessly in preparation for the visit by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association (NCA), which will take place Mar. 7-9.
The NCA is one of six agencies in the United States responsible for giving accreditation to higher learning institutions and is accountable for more than 1,000 colleges and universities in 19 states.
An accreditation is a voluntary peer review procedure which allows colleges to critically evaluate their purposes and examine whether those purposes are being achieved
According to Gail Mee, dean of instruction at MCC, accreditation is important and affects students in many ways.
“Many of our students want to transfer their credits and their courses to other colleges and universities and in order to do that, we would have be accredited,” said Mee.
Mee said that other schools do not accept coursework from colleges that are not accredited.
In addition, Mee also said that students would not be able to receive federal financial aid if MCC were not an accredited school.
Among the other benefits of having an accreditation includes setting national standards and ensuring “the quality of the faculty and staff that make up the college,” said Gayla Priesser, who is a full-time faculty member in the Psychology department.
The preparation for this visit began approximately two years ago when a self-study committee of 80 faculty members were assembled to assess whether MCC met the criteria and accreditation requirements set by the HLC.
Priesser was appointed as the self-study coordinator.
The criteria that was set by the HLC focuses on five different principles that are seen as vital to the success of a community college.
Those criteria are Mission and Integrity; Preparing for the Future; Student Learning; Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge; and Engagement and Service (in the community).
The committee was divided into five different groups that studied each of the criterion established by the HLC and measured how MCC matched up with the criteria.
The members also identified some of the most important challenges that the school will face in the future.
As a result of the arduous work put in by the committee, MCC has gained a national reputation for its assessment program.
The formation of the self-study committee and the assessment program are some of the responses to suggestions that were made by the NCA during its visit 10 years ago.
Some of the other suggestions called for improvements in developmental education, revamping the library.
The improvements that were made have resulted in dramatic progress and change on the MCC campus.
“It’s a different place than it was 10 years ago,” said Mee.
The changes include the expansion of the library and the creation of the tutoring center.
The school has also expanded its technology access, with 3,000 computers available to students, compared to 500 in 1995.
Even though MCC has made significant strides, college president Larry Christiansen maintains that improvements will still have to be made to accommodate the school’s tremendous growth.
Overall, Christiansen is satisfied with the progress the school has made.
“I think we’ve done a good job of balancing growth and quality.”