Members

North Central Association site visit team recommendsCollege Reaccrediffationthree-person site visit team representingthe North Central Association ofAColleges and Schools completed its stayin Arkansas City and said itwouldrecommend full reaccreditation for Cowley.Dr. Charlotte Lee, Dr.deployment of that data.Jerrilyn Brewer, and Dr. David Eighteen months is not viable.Trites spent Feb. 7-9 at Cowleyin a series of meetings thatinvolved a cross-section ofemployees, the Board ofTrustees, and community members.During the exit interviewwith approximately 70 Cowley"Therefore, we are recommendingfull affirmation tothe commission, with the nextcomprehensive site visit tooccur in 2009 to 2010. You areway out on the leading edge ofcontinuous quality improvement."employees on Feb. 9, the teamAbout two years ago, NCAsaid it was impressed with the invited Cowley to conduct aBaldrige categories and whatthe college is doing in eachtoward continuous qualityimprovement.Brewer, evaluation andcontinuous improvement supervisorat Western WisconsinTechnical College in LaCrosse,presented strengths in each ofthe categories. Lee presentedareas for improvement, andTrites, student services coordinatorat Alexandria TechnicalCollege in Alexandria, Minn.,presented what the team called"food for thought," professionaladvice that included some collegesin which Cowley mightconsider benchmarking.Dr. Pat McAtee, Cowleypresident, thanked the teamfor its work. He also thankedcollege and that it would recommendfullreaccreditation tothe Commission on Institutionsof Higher Education with NCA."You should feel goodabout what you're doing," saidLee, president of Terra StateCommunity College inFremont, Ohio, and the team'slead evaluator. "A second visitwas scheduled in the next 18-20 months. But we are recommendingthat the next visit bein 48-60 months, or 2002-2003and 2003-2004. We feel youhave done such wonderful pioneeringwork. We want to giveyou time to collect more dataand be able to show fullspecial emphasis self-study forreaccreditation, one that combinedthe college's work withthe Kansas Award forExcellence and the MalcolmBaldrige National QualityAward criteria. Only a coupleother colleges and universitiesin the nation had conductedsuch a study, based on qualityperformance measures, whichmakes Cowley's study a modelfor other institutions of higherlearning.Cowley's study, titled"Embracing Quality: A Self-Assessment for the NewMillennium— Cowley, NCA, andBaldrige," contains the sevenemployees of the college."It has been a long journeyand one that is not finished,"McAtee said. "But I think aftergoing through this study,we're heading in the rightdirection. You all (employees)should feel very proud of whatyou have accomplished."Michelle Schoon, chairpersonand instructor in theNatural Science Department,served as the chair of Cowley's17-member North CentralSteering Committee.A celebration reception forCowley employees was held inthe Earle N. WrightCommunity Room.President's Inmiiil lieiwri 1399-2000