October 1, 2007

NEWS: Accreditation to his people

College calls for comments, criticisms
Johnson County Community College president likes the idea of assigning homework -- even to the community.

The latest communique from newly appointed JCCC president Terry Calaway, asks for feedback on the college's renewal application for accreditation.

The message was
posted today at 8:15 am on Infolist, the college's electronic mail server.

In the past month, Calaway has used Infolist to announce town hall meetings, changes to the college's organizational structure and to encourage employees to contribute to the United Way campaign.

Today Infolist also announced Calaway's next town hall meeting will take place 9 - 10:30 am, Oct. 10 in GEB 233 on the JCCC campus.

Here is this morning's message regarding the accreditation application:

The Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) provides an alternative process through which an educational institution can maintain its accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission.

JCCC is part of AQIP, which calls upon institutions to undergo a systems appraisal every four years. This is an opportunity for us to get expert, objective, third-party feedback on our strengths and opportunities for improvement. In turn, what we learn from the systems appraisal will help us determine our next targets for advancing quality at JCCC through action projects and other plans.

The systems portfolio describes each of the major systems we currently employ to accomplish our mission and objectives. To create the systems portfolio, the AQIP committee (Dana Grove, Jeff Seybert, Ralph Juhnke, Carolyn Neptune, Sandra Warner and Julie Haas) answered questions dealing with context for analysis, processes, results, and improvement for each of the nine AQIP categories. In addition, an institutional overview presents a capsule picture of JCCC that provides readers the context for appreciating the institution’s choices and decisions.

JCCC’s systems portfolio is due to AQIP by Nov. 1. However, the committee doesn’t want to complete the document without feedback from the college community. Therefore, we are asking you to take the time to read the document and provide feedback. You’ll find a pdf of the systems portfolio at http://www.jccc.net/home/depts.php/001000/site/aqip.

You can provide feedback on the document by logging in to MyJCCC and clicking on the JCCC Applications tab and then, on the left, on the Human Resources link. You’ll then find a link to the AQIP portfolio feedback form. That brings up an online form you can use to submit your feedback for each category and the organization overview in the draft portfolio. The feedback form will be available between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8.

Please take the time to read through the document and provide your thoughts using the online feedback form. The final document submitted to AQIP will also be posted online, where it can serve as a reference for college students, faculty and staff and for the community. In February, the college will receive feedback from AQIP appraisers regarding what they see as the college’s strengths and opportunities for improvement. That summary too will be posted online.

The committee and I appreciate your assistance with this important project.