TheEvaluator
Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools
Volume II, Issue I
Winter 2009
Evaluator Coordinator
Some evaluators may have already been
in contact with Ian and in upcoming
cycles many more will be able to utilize
his abilities and accessibility for the
betterment of ACICS’ Evaluator Program. Ian will be supporting the program in all its aspects; however, you
may particularly notice his help in the
following areas:
• Evaluator Updates—Any changes to
addresses, employment, or contact information should be forwarded on to
Ian.
Ian Harazduk
Evaluator Coordinator
ACICS has created a new position for
the purposes of directly aiding our
evaluators and our evaluator manager,
Susan Greer. Mr. Ian Harazduk, who is
our former receptionist, has been promoted to this new position. Ian has
been in his new role since the end of
October. He came to ACICS, originally,
in March of this year, from his supervisory position at Borders Books & Music,
Inc. He holds a bachelor of arts degree
in English/Creative Writing from Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio.
• File Requests—In order to keep cur-
rent and complete records, Ian may ask
you to submit certain forms.
• Reimbursement Access—Ian plays a
critical role on the backend of our reimbursement tool – Business Portal (BP).
He connects evaluators to the network
and sets them up in the BP. Therefore,
Ian is your first line of contact for Business Portal access issues.
responsibilities involved in creating the
content for the evaluator newsletter.
You may find a sliver of his quintessence while you read this very article.
Along with his responsibilities as
evaluator coordinator, Ian has also accepted a supplementary role on the
travel staff. He will be conducting a
small portion of visits each cycle. Therefore, a number of you may be able to
work closely on-site with our new
evaluator coordinator. Ian is excited
about the opportunity to travel, but
more so excited about the opportunity
to meet and work directly with our proficient and perspicacious pool of evaluators.
Always remember: If you have any
questions or concerns, Ian will be happy
and willing to assist. You may contact
him by phone at (202) 336-6795 or by email at [email protected].
• The Evaluator—Ian has accepted the
New Accreditation Coordinators
“I am looking forward to the opportunity to travel the
country and see all of our excellent member institutions. I
am a huge proponent of education and am proud to be
working for an organization that allows me to play such a
role in the educational process. I believe the work done at
ACICS is invaluable and I am extremely excited to be able
to use my previous experience and education in such an
important field.”
Sarah Parsons, M.A.
Accreditation Coordinator
Karmen Baretich, M.A.
Accreditation Coordinator
“I am excited to learn more about how the higher education accreditation process works for the
betterment of students, faculty and staff. Gaining experience with accreditation issues and
processes, while meeting and working with education professionals from across the country, is
a rare opportunity. I look forward to meeting and working with everyone.”
ALERT! ALERT!
Standardized Report Guidelines
The staff has created a few helpful guidelines for writing citations on
team reports. As always, when writing a citation it is important that you
provide sufficient evidence for the citation, so those that review the report
will be adequately informed.
Please review the following examples:
− Write in the active voice and in complete sentences.
− For lists with more than three items, identify the list with a colon,
and on the following line indent the list using bullets.
− Degree levels are to be spelled as noted below:
• occupational associate’s degree
• academic associate’s degree
• bachelor’s degree
• master’s degree
− Embolden the citation number and use a dash or colon to separate
the citation from the example.
(Section3-1-303(e)) – The team reviewed the transcript of Joe
Smith and could not determine Satisfactory Academic Progress
(SAP) because repeated classes are not listed in the transcript.
− In reference to credentials, or missing credentials, be certain to list
the faculty member’s name, degree, and school.
(Section3-1-541) – The evaluation of foreign degrees earned by
Dr. Otto Normalzocker, bachelor of science, University of Stuttgart, is not completed by a current member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES).
− Spell out all acronyms on the first mention. Afterwards they may be
referred to by their acronymic abbreviation. Degrees and organizations (with no acronym) should always be spelled out.
− Do capitalize the Council, educational institutions, and proper names
of schools, all program titles, cities, and states. Do NOT capitalize
titles.
Ms. Betty Jones, lead instructor for the Business Management
program, received her academic associate’s degree from Spokane
Community College located in Spokane, Washington.
If other editorial issues arise, please consult with the staff coordinator
and their “Editing Guidelines for Team Reports.”
Technology Update
ACICS is moving ever closer to a new technology
package. The staff has been working diligently on
a series of projects to make processes for the staff,
schools, and evaluators more efficient and more
readily available. Evaluators should expect the
following changes:
• A new and improved database, Personify, will
allow evaluators to directly input their information into our system. As well as update and alter
it, as necessary.
•
A new and improved accounting system, Concur, will allow access to all evaluators and simplify the receipt-laden reimbursement process.
•
An improved Web site will allow for better
functionality and a more satisfying online experience. The Web site is currently in the beta test
stage with staff, Council, and evaluators serving
as testers.
Criteria Changes
At each Council Meeting, specific areas of the Accreditation Criteria are reviewed thoroughly. As a
result of the Council’s most recent review of the
Criteria the following sections have been revised
and or updated and will be effective January 1,
2009: Distance Education, Faculty Credentials,
Initial Accreditation, and Tuition and Fees. The
detailed changes can be found in the Memorandum to the Field which is posted on our Web site
at www.acics.org. If you have specific questions
about any of the changes to the Accreditation Criteria, please contact any member of the travel
staff or Ms. Kimberlee Moore at [email protected]
Impact of Cancellations: A Friendly Reminder
All ACICS evaluators are multi-talented people. As such, we
understand your time is in demand and greatly appreciate
your willingness to share it with us. Unfortunately, when our
valued team members cancel on visits, there are some considerable, undesirable consequences for ACICS staff and institutions, from both an inconvenience and a cost perspective
standpoint:
•
Coordinators have to scramble to find qualified replacements.
•
•
Correspondence to institutions must be revised.
•
If a coordinator is unable to fill a spot on a team, a return
Additional pre-visit materials have to be shipped to replacement team members.
trip may need to be made to
complete the visit. This can
result in the extension of the
travel cycle.
Saying “yes” to a visit means that you are committing to it!
Before uttering the magic word, please run the invitation past
all interested parties (your office, loved ones, the goldfishsitter, etc.), and make sure all your personal obligations are
met so that you are truly available on the specified dates.
In the event that you do have to cancel, let the visit coordinator know as soon as possible. If you happen to know someone
who might be able to serve in your place, this assistance is, of
course, welcome. As always, thank you for your service to
ACICS. Without you, our work would be impossible!
Stories from the Road
The Evaluator is pleased to present the
first issuing of an article entitled
“Stories from the Road.” The article will
illustrate the quirky, peculiar, and humorous events that can and will happen
on every travel cycle.
made it to the back of the restaurant
unscathed but not undamaged. She still
wakes up at night, screaming, with the
vision of eight lifeless beady eyes, and
antlers every which way, skulking
around her.
Terrified of Taxidermy
New Airline Notice: Your Flight Has
Left Prematurely
A staff member of ours, she will remain
unnamed (Jocelyn Harris), has a certain
ailment uncommonly labeled taxidermiphobia. Therefore, when she took the
team out following their pre-visit meeting and stumbled upon “The Spaghetti
Warehouse,” an Italian Restaurant with
the Web site meatballs.com she did not
think to ask, as she usually does,
whether it had dead, stuffed things lying around. She strutted through the
front doors, and was confronted with
“four, count ‘em, FOUR deer heads plastered on the walls.” Luckily enough with
the help of another’s hand clutched
tight and her eyes wrenched closed; she
In a travel-related business, we have all
become accustomed to four-hour,
twelve-hour, and maybe even day-long
delays. However, just to keep you on
your toes, the airlines, particularly in
Fargo, North Dakota have found a new
trick: leave twenty minutes early.
Robert Hendrickson was the lucky coordinator on the end of this happenstance.
In two years and over a hundred flight
segments Robert had never missed a
flight. However, on his twenty mile trek
from Moorhead, Minnesota to Hector
International Airport; Robert got stuck
in one of Fargo’s ever-famous traffic
“Our School Does It This Way…”
ACICS respects your knowledge in the field and expects you to utilize
your experience in the subject area to perform the task of reviewing
program(s) according to ACICS criteria. After all, it is your knowledge and education that qualified you as an evaluator. But as difficult
as it may be, it is imperative that you not compare the institution
being visited to your institution, or their program to your program, or
their students to your students. Impartiality, objectivity, lack of
prejudice, neutrality are key traits that must be enforced in order for
the peer review process to be successful. Let’s remember this as we
progress through another exciting travel cycle!
jams. (It is believed that Steve
Buschemi was the cause). Nonetheless,
he still arrived twenty minutes before
takeoff. Although, after noticing the
gate was closed, the counter was unmanned, and not another passenger was
in sight; he saw his plane soaring off to
Chicago in the distance. Nothing beats a
free overnight stay in the “Gateway to
the West.”
This article relies on submissions from
staff and evaluators. If you wish, do
share one of your “stories from the road”
with our Evaluator Management Team
for possible inclusion in the next newsletter. Please send any submissions to
[email protected]
Reimbursement Notice
A few reimbursement reminders: When you are
eating a meal without the team, remember to include your itemized meal receipt. This applies to
hotel bills, as well. If ordering room service, include an itemized receipt along with the hotel bill.
In addition, remember that original receipts
are due in the office 60 days after the visit,
as mandated by the IRS. We have had little issues
with tardiness, but better safe than sorry.
Evaluator Training Workshop Participants
ACICS acknowledges the following new evaluators. These individuals attended an evaluator training workshop in the fall or
winter 2008 and have completed their paperwork. Welcome Aboard!
MEREDITH AUSTIN BRIAN BALSAVAGE DEAN BARTNESS KATHLEEN BENNICOFF ERIN CANTOR THOMAS CARPENTER JULIET CHAMBERLAIN DIANNE CRADER BRIAN CROSE KAREN DILLON CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS CAROLE DRAIN LLOYD ESTEP RICARDO ESTEVEZ THOMAS FRIDLEY SILVIO FRYDMAN RENEE GADDIS RICHARD GILLIAM AMANDA GLOVER TAMMY HALL RON HANSEN JOSEPH HARDIMAN MICHAEL HECK PATRICIA HOLLEY KIM JOHNSON‐LEE ROXANNE JORDAN WENDY KANDEL SUSAN KANE KATHY KNEELAND LYNNETTE LAMBERT‐KENNEDY JEFFREY LINDBERG MARY LUCKY JOHN MANCUSO TODD MATTHEWS PHILIP MAYO RUTH MILLER MARIO MIRO CHARLES MITSAKOS MELISSA NAUGHTON ANGELA PARMLEY PATRICIA PATTERSON JUAN PERALTA STEPHEN PUSTAY KEITH REED ANGELA RODRIGUEZ DANIEL SATTISON LAURA SELVEY HOLLY SHIFLETT LATRENDA SMALL DUANE SMITH CINDI THOMAS LAURA VEST REGINA WELCH CHRISTINE WEST MATTIE WILSON KENNETH WOOD Everyone at ACICS would like to thank you for your contributions and dedication to
the Council. We wish you an enjoyable holiday season and a happy new year.