Allan Berg Sees Middle States Review as Catalyst for Positive Change

By Alita Byrd
Special to FYI Online

Allan Berg

“The more I learn about the direction of higher education around the world . . . the more I’m convinced that our faculty is leading the way,” said Allan Berg, associate dean, UMUC Europe, and chair of the faculty subcommittee working to prepare for the upcoming Middle States accreditation review. “It’s cutting a new path into an era that will see university faculties that are much more diverse in their competencies and much better able to bring higher education out of the ‘ivory tower’ and into the streets where it belongs.”

Berg doesn’t make that statement lightly. He and the seven members of his subcommittee have been collecting data on UMUC’s faculty since summer 2004. Their report will be submitted as part of UMUC’s self-study report, an integral part of the Middle States accreditation process.

Berg’s subcommittee was given a list of more than 25 questions-based on Middle States’ standards-to guide them in their detailed study of UMUC faculty. The questions cover every imaginable topic pertinent to UMUC faculty, including faculty responsibilities, recruitment policies, qualifications, workloads, curricula design and review, professional development, and more.

Each subcommittee member was assigned several questions to work on, and each member used data from across UMUC to draft responses to the questions. They reviewed student materials, interviewed faculty and staff, and reviewed university policies and guidelines in the process of answering the questions.

“[Subcommittees use] every conceivable technique to make sure all sources of information are examined,” Berg said.

All of the information collected by the faculty subcommittee members will be used to create a faculty “chapter” for the Middle States report, identifying strengths and highlighting areas that need improvement. The report will ultimately be submitted to Middle States, along with the work of the seven other subcommittees that are studying various aspects of UMUC and its operations.

“The process of producing this document is intended by Middle States to provide UMUC with valuable information about its operations and future direction,” Berg said. “It has been an extremely enlightening process for all of us on the subcommittee. I’ve learned that UMUC faculty is on the cutting edge of higher education-not just higher education in Maryland, or even in America, but international higher education.”

And when it comes to international higher education, Berg speaks with authority. He was a tenured professor and department chair for many years in the United States, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses at universities in Japan, he taught for UMUC throughout Asia and Europe, and he administered UMUC graduate programs in Okinawa and the United Kingdom before becoming UMUC’s area director for Okinawa for five years. He transferred to Europe in 2004 as area director for the United Kingdom, Benelux, Iceland, and central Germany. In December 2004 he was named associate dean for Europe. This is his first experience, however, as an administrator in a Middle States review. Berg said that there is a lot of pressure and a strong sense of responsibility to subcommittee members who are working so hard. At the same time, he said, “These pressures and responsibilities give extra meaning to relationships and interactions with others. It’s the ‘foxhole effect.’ Developing special working relationships with colleagues is the best part.”

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that UMUC will change in major ways as a result of the Middle States effort,” Berg said. “While it’s too early to tell what the nature of the changes will be, they’ll definitely happen. Then again, UMUC is already such a dynamic university, maybe the changes would have happened regardless of this intensive review. Either way, we’re going to change a lot in the very near future and it’s going to be very much for the better.”

For more information about the upcoming Middle States review, visit the UMUC Web page at www.umuc.edu/middlestates/, and see the earlier coverage in FYI Online:

• Monaco Heads Education Subcommittee as UMUC Prepares for Middle States Review
• Middle States Accreditation Process Offers UMUC a Priceless Opportunity for Self-Examination
• A Few Words from Nicholas Allen