Thursday, July 21, 2011

So What Have I Missed...? (Part One)

Since last blogging I have bought a house and had a daughter--both activities seemed to occupy a lot of my spring semester. If I were a better blogger, what would I have reported?

Middle States Re-accreditation

When I got into academia, Middle States sounded like something from J.R.R. Tolkien--an underground world where an alternate society or civilization existed alongside our own. It turns out (alas) that Middle States refers to the academic accrediting body that visits Sage every ten years. It is not made up of gnomes or folklore folk, but a volunteer team of professors and administrators that examine every aspect of the college community. The volunteers read Sage's lengthy self-study and then meet to discuss the results. Meetings are held with faculty, students, administrators, coaches, committees, maintenance staff and trustees--no stone is left unturned.

It is a high stakes effort to really look at institutional strengths and weaknesses and prove to the accrediting team that the college is capable of continued success. A large number of faculty and staff worked for nearly two years on the self-study, which is Dostoevsky-like in length and detail--a real saga of Sage history, past, present and projected-future. Those who wrote this tome deserve immediate tenure, year-long sabbaticals or at the very least, a steak dinner. Due to their efforts, Sage passed with many "commendations" and only a short list of "recommendations" and "collegial suggestions"--all of which are beginning to be addressed by the Sage community.

I attended several of the meetings and learned how helpful it is to have total strangers both confirm what you already know and illuminate aspects you may not have thought about. The most ringing reminder from the committee was to continue investing in the women's college mission, where Sage's unique history sets us apart from other institutions. While many women's colleges continue to go co-ed, it will be interesting to see how this challenge is addressed at Sage.

What else have I missed? Next blog...Tenure at Sage.