As Sacramento State continues with the second phase of its reaccredidation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Academic Affairs is encouraging Sac State staff and faculty members to become involved.

The process, which includes a total of three phases, is geared toward turning Sac State into a destination campus, rather than a commuter school.

Being accredited is-a goal for all universities, said Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Joseph Sheley.

“Accreditation is not important it’s absolutely necessary,” Sheley said. “No university wants to be unaccredited.”

It is necessary because if a university is not accredited, it will be placed in bad academic standing and a bachelor’s degree would be worthless and financial eligibility would be non-existent.

“It’s a very important process because if a university or community college is not accredited by WASC, then its students will lose their chance to be eligible to receive financial aid,” said Mike Lee, associate vice president and dean for Academic Programs. “This is why Sac State is asking for the help of its faculty and staff members.”

Phase two ?” a written draft of the university’s goals ?” evaluates whether the university fulfills its commitment to institutional integrity, fiscal stability and organizational structures and processes, according to the accreditation website.

“Earning this accreditation is really a statement about our worthiness,” Sheley said. “It speaks of our ability to offer students good classes and allows us to be seen as a high quality campus.”

“The fact that it is determined by an independent-body and not just us, will also help show students that Sac State is dependable,” he added.

Faculty members and administrators said faculty input will benefit the process.

Val Smith, chair of the second phase of the university’s WASC Review Steering Committee, said it seems entirely appropriate that Sac State and the association would want as much feedback and participation as possible.

Jackie Donath, chair of the Humanities and Religious Studies Department, said the draft is useful.

“It lays out pretty clearly what our strengths and abilities are and even what we as a university need to work on,” said Donath, noting that everyone who created the draft did a “remarkable” job.

Lee said WASC uses a very thorough assessment program. He added that it offers a particular level of quality of approval.

“(Phase two) is the capacity review stage,” Lee said. “They’re going to be looking at whether or not we have the capacity to hold our student body.”

WASC officials will be visiting the campus to perform this review early in March 2007, Lee said. They will talk to faculty and staff members from a number of different offices and may even speak to students, he said.

If Sac State passes the review in March, it will move on to the institutional proposal for reaccredidation, the last of the three phases.

WASC will make its final decision sometime in July 2007, making it a nearly four-year process since its beginning in 2004, Lee said.

Lee said there is a fundamental reason why the university uses the Western Association of Schools and Colleges for its accreditation: “WASC is designated by the United States Department of Education.”

Members of the WASC Review Steering Committee said that involvement of the faculty, staff members and students is one of the most important aspects of the reaccredidation process. The draft can be found online.

“We put a copy of the draft online so they could review it and leave feedback,” Lee said. ” We want them to tell us if we missed something, or if a certain area was not included.”

According to the WASC website, the greatest value of the WASC protocol is that it ensures equity and fairness to all students in all schools. Parents, teachers, staff members and students participate in this process, which enables them to critically self-examine their school plan, set their own goals and assess if goals are reached for continuous improvement, the websites states.

Administrators said failure or receiving reaccreditations is unlikely and that its purpose is more focused on improving the university’s weaknesses.

“I don’t feel that we are in any danger,” Lee said. “It is almost impossible for us to not become reaccredited at this point. We’re basically just taking this opportunity to review how we, as a university, achieve student learning goals.”

The accreditation will help Sac State accomplish this goal, Lee said.

“It would mean that we are accredited for another 10 years,” Lee said. “This will help us improve the overall quality of student learning both in and out of the classroom.”

Ashley Evans can be reached at [email protected]