June 2005

Middle States Reaccreditation Subcommittees

Chris Hannah Seeks to Align Mission, Goals, and Objectives

By Stefanie Johnson
Special to FYI Online

Fall 2005 will mark the beginning of another academic year and also the end to the lengthy preparations for the upcoming Middle States accreditation review. The eight subcommittee drafts have been turned in to the steering committee and the editing process is underway for the final self-study report.

	Chris Hannah

Chris Hannah, formerly dean of the Graduate School of Management and Technology and currently a faculty member in UMUC’s MBA program, chaired the mission, goals, and objectives subcommittee. Hannah first came to UMUC in 1989.

The nine members of the subcommittee were charged with examining the congruence between the University’s stated mission and the goals developed for its implementation. Additionally, the committee examined the efficiency of methods used to communicate those goals to the University population as well as systems that are in place to gather and integrate feedback from the institution’s important stakeholder groups.

“Our team was fortunate because UMUC’s newly revised mission and goals statement puts the University in a strong position, thanks to the organization’s leadership,” said Hannah. “And underneath that mission statement, one finds a very deep, consistent, and pervasive commitment to serving nontraditional students. There is evidence of that commitment in every aspect of the University that we examined.”

Hannah and her team spent hours interviewing UMUC faculty, staff, and students as well as sifting through documents, including a variety of mission statements from UMUC’s individual departments. An area of particular interest to the committee was the dissemination of goals and objectives to each of the thousands of individual UMUC employees and students scattered across the globe.

“It is crucial to make sure that people understand their importance and that they know how their work is specifically contributing to the overall mission,” said Hannah.

All of the committee’s findings were boiled down to a 10-page report that will be included as a chapter in the final accreditation document.

“The act of reflecting upon and examining our goals was a very positive experience,” said Hannah. “I thought our team worked very efficiently and effectively. Everyone brought their knowledge and expertise to the table.”

Other members of the mission, goals, and objectives subcommittee included Kim Bonner, director of the Center for Intellectual Property; Gary Hunt, area director of Korea for UMUC Asia; Steve Kronheim, collegiate professor and academic director of psychology in the School of Undergraduate Studies; Christine Leche, academic director of the English program for UMUC Europe; Mark Parker, executive assistant in the provost’s office; Debra Tervala, assistant dean in the School of Undergraduate Studies; and Ja’nice Williams, Student Advisory Council representative for Adelphi.