Accreditation Update

Dana Thomas, Vice Provost, informed staff council members of the accreditation process, provided handouts of the UAF Mission Statement and Core Themes, Objectives, and Indicators.  Anyone wishing to receive a copy of these documents may contact their staff council representative or the UAF Staff Council office.  Claudia Koch, Unit 7 representative, is a member of this committee.

UAF has not received a final report from the Northwest Commission for the accreditation just completed.  From the draft report given to UAF received 3 recommendations and 3 commendations.

As UAF has completed the initial accreditation process we are now beginning an ongoing cycle.  The Northwest Commission requires the accreditation process be completed every 7 years. 

1. Year One - define and/or revise university mission statement, themes, objectives, indicators, and the fulfillment of them.
2. Year Three - review the comments from the Northwest Commission of year one's information.  Make any changes to year one's items if needed or wanted.  Review resources and capacity.
3. Year Five - review the comments from the Northwest Commission of year one and three's information.  Make any changes to year one or three's items if needed or wanted.  Give data on indicator survey gathered and  how the information is used in the budget and planning processes.
4. Year Seven - review the comments from the Northwest Commission of year one, three, five's information.  Make any changes to year one, three, or five's item if needed or wanted.  Provide an evaluation of the mission fulfillment and accomplishment.  The following year begins year one again. 

At this point, the UAF Accreditation Committee is discussing revising the university's mission statement.  There is conversation about putting the "Land, Sea, and Space Grant" into the preamble.  The current mission statement states what we do, the goal is to have it state who we are and why do we do what we do.  The Chancellor's Cabinet has suggested the mission statement be one sentence.  Something easily remembered, relevant, and helpful when recruting students and/or donors.