By Will Jones
Staff Writer
Every institution of higher learning in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges must complete a reaffirmation process every 10 years. Accreditation with SACSCOC allows Bryan to maintain its reputation as a credible institution and, more importantly, reassures graduates and current students that they are getting a proper return on their investment of time and money.
“Honestly, it is a great opportunity for Bryan College to demonstrate that we do what we say we do,” said Bill Harle, accreditation liaison for the school. “This series of deadlines and these outside evaluators give us the motivation to assess for ourselves the effectiveness of what we are doing.”
Harle stressed that this was a reaffirmation process, not an accreditation process. “We are already accredited, and that’s not going to change. The Southern Association just wants to make sure that we are living up to our standards,” he said.
The reaffirmation process has two parts.
First, Bryan must submit a Compliance Certification Report, detailing everything from physical facilities and finances to current academic achievement standards.
Then in February a team made up of faculty and staff from peer institutions like University of the South and Furman University will come to the Bryan College campus and make their report.
Part of this on-site visit involves interviews with Bryan students.
“I have been told again and again that Bryan students are some of the friendliest, most articulate kids out there, so I have no doubt at all that we will do very well,” Harle said.
In the meantime, the reaffirmation process has provided the impetus for the Bryan Journey, a first-year program designed to welcome students to the school.
SACSCOC requires all schools undergoing reaffirmation to institute a Quality Enhancement Plan. At Bryan, this plan is the Bryan Journey.
“The Bryan Journey incorporates a new, first-year experience with initiatives already in place,” said Keri-Lynn Paulson, quality enhancement plan coordinator. “It really is genius to require schools to do something like this every 10 years.”
In addition to requiring all first-year students to take the College Success Seminar, the Bryan Journey will assess student progress in the areas of written competency and information literacy through the core classes of Freshman English and Expository Writing.
“We want the students to learn to write well, to grow spiritually and to succeed academically in their time at Bryan,” said Paulson.
Paulson noted that, while the process may seem immaterial for many students, the Bryan Journey’s ultimate purpose is to improve the academic and spiritual experience here at Bryan.
“We aren’t just jumping through hoops here,” she said.
For many students, this process may seem like nothing but an extra class and a few funky new banners to gawk at on their way to chapel. But Paulson was adamant that the Bryan Journey is a team effort designed to make Bryan more welcoming to students.
“I love to see faculty and staff come together with a plan that makes students’ lives better,” she said.
