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Accreditation has value for
many at NMSU

Many colleges, departments and programs across campus are invested in the value of accreditation and offer the following thoughts on its importance.

“Accreditation gives additional validation to our programs and indicates to our students and their employers that our graduates meet standards that exceed those of other institutions. The review process conducted by the six different accrediting agencies reviewing different College of Education programs require the college to stay on the cutting edge of new knowledge, and meet national standards. These external evaluators conduct a rigorous review of programs and students’ performance. The external evaluators representing the various accreditation agencies come from some of the most prestigious institutions in the country and their review and validation strengthens the College of Education programs.” — Michael A. Morehead, associate dean, College of Education

“Accreditation is very important for recruiting in the MBA Program. Many students think this is important. They would much prefer an accredited degree program. It holds more clout. In addition, some employers will not reimburse unless the employee/student is getting a degree from a reputable (fully accredited) university. Recently, the MBA Program was ranked in the top 300 MBA Programs worldwide by both Princeton Review and by U.S. News and World Report. I doubt that we would have received such a prestigious ranking if the MBA Program wasn’t accredited.” — Bobbie Green, director, MBA Program, College of Business

“The Department of Journalism and Mass Communications first decided to pursue accreditation in 1997 as a challenge to justify what we perceived to be the excellence of performance and alumni success that appeared to be a hallmark of the program. Despite the difficulties pursuant to accreditation, we have found it worth the effort in the increased respect accorded to the program by the university and the improvements to curriculum, self-assessment, and pride within the department. As an accredited program, we have access to competitive awards and intern programs only accorded to accredited programs, and there is no doubt that graduates use the accredited status as an honor that may help them gain a competitive job interview when all other factors are equal.” — Frank Thayer, department head, Journalism and Mass Communications, College of Arts and Sciences

“For a professional college such as the CHSS, I believe accreditation is essential (whenever it is available) to assure the public, students and our peers that we are offering a degree program that is consistent with the best practices judged according to the professional groups. Having such recognition and quality assurance also is important to prospective students contemplating enrolling in a program.” — Jeffrey Brandon, dean, College of Health and Social Services

“Our programs have been accredited since the 1930s. We continue accreditation because most employers will not hire graduates from non-accredited programs, so its a matter of necessity. Other than the obvious benefit of being eligible for better and more diverse jobs, the accreditation process keeps the programs current, relevant, and excellent through continuous quality improvement, thereby affording the student a better educational experience.” — Krist Petersen, associate dean, College of Engineering.

“We could not offer family and consumer science education and dietetics without being accredited in these areas. It impacts the programs we are able to offer and the number of students that are in our department. We would have fewer students without these accredited programs. It was well worth the effort.” — Martha Archuleta, department head, Family and Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Home Economics

NMSU continues reaccreditation journey

New Mexico State University’s reaccreditation journey will reach an important stage in the spring when the Las Cruces, Grants and Doña Ana campuses are visited by peer review teams, giving many faculty, staff, students, alumni and other constituents opportunities to share their insights.

President Michael Martin says the reaccreditation process is one of the rare opportunities where everyone comes together around a common objective.

Celebrate NMSU in 3D - Dedicated, Diverse
and Dynamic.

“It gives us all a shared purpose with some urgency and is a great opportunity for careful analytical introspection by the university to size up who we are,” Martin says. “It also allows us to seek both external evaluation and external advice and guidance from colleagues and professionals we respect. When the process is done, it asserts to the rest of the country that we remain a quality institution.”

Waded Cruzado, executive vice president and provost, agrees.

“This is a wonderful exercise of institutional introspection,” she says. “The self-study process that is part of reaccreditation is an opportunity given to us to pause and reflect on how the institution has evolved in the last 10 years – how is NMSU different today, how is it similar, what are our current needs, what are our aspirations and dreams for the future?”

Every 10 years, NMSU conducts an extensive institutional self-study to prepare for its reaccreditation evaluation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The HLC offers selected institutions the option of focusing the self-study on specific issues critical to the pursuit of continuous improvement and educational excellence. NMSU Las Cruces has chosen the Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year (FOE) as its special emphasis focus. This section of the report will discuss how NMSU has addressed recommendations of an FOE Task Force and Dimension Review Teams to improve student success in the first year of college and will provide an initial assessment of the results of these efforts.

“A special emphasis provides us with focus and sends a message to everyone that providing our students with a solid foundation to launch their futures, this is a priority,” Cruzado says.

“This emphasis gives us a more focused context for what we are measuring ourselves against and sends a message internally and externally about what we care about,” Martin says. “There is nothing else we are doing that is of a higher priority. We need to be prepared to go the extra mile to help those leading this effort.”

A steering committee, an FOE task force, and several subcommittees began work on the HLC self-study process and the FOE analysis in fall 2005 and continue to work toward completion of the self-study report in preparation for a site visit by the HLC.

NMSU’s Las Cruces and Grants campuses will be visited by a peer review team April 28-30, 2008. The Doña Ana campus also will be visited by a separate HLC team during this same time period as part of its process for independent accreditation.

“This visit is unique because it will be a systemic effort in the spring. NMSU Grants will be going through the exercise with the Las Cruces campus and our Doña Ana Community College will undergo a process to seek independent accreditation. It is an opportunity to showcase the best that we have,” says Cruzado.

She said independent accreditation for the community college campuses allows them to be more closely benchmarked against their peers.

“Each of our campuses has a different mission. Alamogordo and Carlsbad are already independently accredited and Grants is looking at that option for the future,” she says.

The final report will be released in late January or early February 2008. The report and visit will celebrate NMSU in 3D – Dedicated, Diverse and Dynamic.

“The nice thing about identifying those kinds of commitments or that kind of value system is that you are never there, but you always have a place to go, you are always on your journey. We’re all in this together and it should be important to all of us. This is all about the university we all work for and love,” Martin says.

For more information on the reaccreditation process, visit http://accreditation.nmsu.edu.

Julie M. Hughes

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