Tuesday, March 05, 2002

WILMINGTON, NC – The evaluation team representing the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accrediting agency wrapped up its four-day visit to UNC Wilmington Feb. 28 with an exit report that featured a rare and extraordinary commendation.

The campus visit culminated two years of self-study and assessment by the university as part of the re-accreditation process that takes place every 10 years. The team, comprised of 14 evaluators from colleges and universities across the South and a staff representative from SACS, reviewed UNCW’s documentation and conducted two full days of interviews with faculty, staff and students.

Based on their review, the team reported preliminary findings during the exit report, offering six recommendations and two suggestions for improvement. Donna Wilkinson, SACS staff representative, noted that in her five years with the agency, only one other institution that she helped review had fewer recommendations.

“Twenty-five recommendations is typical,” Dr. Wilkinson said. “This is the second best experience I have been party to. This is extraordinary.”

The exit report began with a rare commendation from the team presented by Dr. Gloria W. Raines, vice chancellor for student affairs at Louisiana State University in Shreveport and chair of the reaffirmation committee.

“The committee was very impressed by what we found to be a strong sense of community and mutual support and collaboration that is evident throughout the entire university,” she said. “We were also very impressed by your commitment to undergraduate education, the fact that teaching was so important to you and that you value your undergraduate program. We were also very much impressed with your emphasis on regional service and the efforts you are making to lift the economic condition and improve the lives of the people who live in surrounding counties.”

She also singled out UNCW’s “university-wide concern for students. Your efforts to provide what we have termed ‘excellence with a personal touch’ is something that each of your students mentioned to us. The fact that you kept high standards and worked so hard to help your students meet those standards is impressive.”

She noted that committees rarely give commendations and that formal commendations are only given under “exceptional circumstances. We have a commendation for this university. We are commending you for your superb self-study document and the entire self-study process. We are very much impressed.”

Following this introduction, committee members reported on the six recommendations and two suggestions. The mandatory recommendations primarily involved improved record-keeping of academic credentials; developing, publishing, and implementing policies for fees paid to faculty for consulting and summer salaries paid from externally funded grants and contracts; regularly evaluating procedures for budget planning; and implementing procedures to assure that the Information Technology Systems Division and University Advancement are meeting their goals and improving services.

The suggestions concerned having Randall Library develop a procedure to preserve or replace deteriorating materials. Also suggested was a comprehensive review of student financial aid services particularly from the standpoint of the level of professional staffing and an upgrade of its student information system.

Dr. Wilkinson noted that these recommendations were “not major issues, they are putting ribbons on packages.” UNCW has five months to provide an institutional response. In December 2002, the full accrediting commission will consider the team’s report and UNCW’s response and will either reaffirm the university’s accreditation or extend the period by 24 months, should more time be needed to demonstrate compliance.

UNCW Chancellor Jim Leutze thanked the team for its work and committed to “quickly and effectively address the issues” raised by the team. “We are committed to strengthening the institution,” he said.

He also publicly thanked self-study director Ken Spackman and all those at UNCW who contributed over the past two years to the self-study process.