December 2005

Middle States Reaccreditation Subcommittees

	Eugene Lockett

Lockett says committee is prepared and excited about the upcoming Middle States team visit

By Alita Byrd
Special to FYI Online

The long-anticipated visit of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools team is not far off now. The team will arrive in early 2006 to review UMUC’s self study and develop its report on UMUC re-accreditation. For almost two years, UMUC has been preparing for the visit.

Now UMUC’s self-study is complete. The eight subcommittees have finalized their reports and finished their work. The subcommittees have spent countless hours interviewing, analyzing, and writing detailed reports on the University’s progress toward its self-imposed goals. The work of seven of the subcommittees has been covered in FYI Online. (Links to all of the articles are included below.)

This is the last article in the series.

The subcommittee on institutional resources and administration— jointly chaired by George Shoenberger, vice president for administration and deputy CFO, and Eugene Lockett, assistant vice president for administration— is pleased with what it has accomplished.

“The effort was invaluable, both for UMUC’s re-accreditation and for the professional development of the [subcommittee] members,” Lockett said. “I feel that the recommendations put forth by our committee, as well as the other committees, will be guiding lights to UMUC as it becomes an even greater university.”

The subcommittee on institutional resources and administration—like the other subcommittees—was given a list of charge questions to guide it in its research. Questions on institutional resources covered such topics as how resources are allocated, how the University determines whether there are adequate faculty and staff, and how the budget is determined. Questions on administration included: “Do adequate information and decision-making systems support the work of administrative leaders?” and “What is the process for periodic assessment of the effectiveness of administrative structures and services?”

The committee was made up of faculty as well as staff from various administrative departments, who were each assigned specific questions to answer. They met regularly to discuss their progress.

“The standards were along discipline lines, so we divided up the work by functional area,” said Lockett. “The members consisted of functional experts in those areas as well as faculty and other staff who could provide a customer service perspective. That has proved invaluable as we have taken a fresh look at these functional areas through the standards of an outside party.”

In addition to Shoenberger and Lockett, subcommittee members included: Jean Bielefeldt, associate vice president for human resources; Gregg Chottiner, vice president for information technology; Bobby Stahl, associate vice president for operations; Bud Burkhard, academic director for history in the School of Undergraduate Studies; and James Stewart, collegiate professor for the Graduate School of Management and Technology.

The subcommittee brought together administrators and academic faculty, who don’t often have an opportunity to work together so closely—a valuable exercise, according to Lockett. Lockett’s job as assistant vice president for administration makes him responsible for the Office of Budget and Financial Analysis and the financial management of the Inn and Conference Center. He also works closely with Shoenberger in overseeing the Office of Financial Services and other administrative areas. Co-chairing the Middle States subcommittee gave Lockett a different view. “I was able to develop a relationship with others in the organization, for example, the faculty members of the committee,” he said. “I feel that we learned a lot from each other and have a deeper appreciation for the day-to-day challenges that we all face.”

Lockett said that sometimes it was a challenge to bring together subcommittee members from multiple time zones—a remark commonly heard by the Middle States subcommittees. But the most challenging portion of the work, according to Lockett, was combining all of the work together into “one document with once voice.” In this effort, “the faculty members of our team proved invaluable,” he said.

Now that research is complete and the chapter on institutional resources and administration is written, the University awaits the Middle States accrediting team visit.

Following are communications regarding UMUC’s Middle States re-accreditation process:

• Middle States Self-Study home
• “A Few Words” by Nicholas Allen
• The process
• Educational Offerings, General Education, and Related Educational Activities
• Faculty
• Leadership, Governance, and Integrity
• Resource Allocation and Institutional Renewal
• Mission
• Student Admissions and Student Support Services
• Assessment