College's Accreditation Reaffirmed in Historic
Joint Visit
(Spring 2002 Newsletter)
"Thomas Aquinas College has matured significantly as
an institution," declared Dr. Ralph A. Wolff, Executive
Director of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges
(WASC), one of the five regional agencies responsible for
accrediting public and private schools, colleges, and universities
throughout the U.S.
"It has maintained financial health, successfully completed
a capital campaign, improved its campus facilities, engaged
in planned growth, expanded its faculty, and undertaken an
extensive review of its curriculum," he said in a March
1 letter advising Dr. Thomas Dillon of WASC's decision to
reaffirm the College's accreditation for an additional full
eight years.
WASC's decision followed upon an extensive review, on-site
visit, and report by an evaluation team comprised not only
of WASC representatives, but of representatives from the American
Academy for Liberal Education (AALE), a national accrediting
organization of liberal arts programs that Thomas Aquinas
College helped found. The assembly of such a team marked the
first time these two accrediting organizations had participated
in a joint accreditation review.
Until 1995, WASC was the exclusive accrediting agency for
colleges and universities located in California, Hawaii, and
U.S. territories in the Pacific. But AALE became enabled to
accredit liberal arts programs throughout the nation when
the Department of Education agreed to recognize its accreditation
certifications as well. AALE's educational standards are specially
designed for liberal arts programs.
The upshot is that dual certification has now became available
for liberal arts programs in pursuit of the highest educational
standards. (Thomas Aquinas College is, incidentally, among
the handful of colleges and universities nationwide that refuses
to accept any federal funding.)
"We were very gratified by this visit," said tutor
Kevin Kolbeck, who served as the College's Accreditation Liaison
Officer for this accreditation review and oversaw the College's
comprehensive self-study report for the WASC/AALE team. "Team
members were very impressed by our program, and offered several
insights on how we can improve certain administrative and
academic matters without changing our fundamental mission
here one iota."
AALE's final report on the College's accreditation status
will be issued this fall, but AALE president, Jeffrey D. Wallin,
was eager to offer a preliminary comment in anticipation of
it: "There is no question about Thomas Aquinas College's
academic excellence, for few institutions take undergraduate
education as seriously as it does. And it's good to see the
noticeable progress being made in finances, physical plant,
and all the other supportive structures of education."
Some of the team's recommendations for sustaining growth
and stability related not to matters about its program but
simply to "additional expenditures" for such things
as sabbaticals, faculty exchanges, and improvements to the
library's collection. And yet the team recognized that the
College's "past record of success suggests a high likelihood
of success" with the College's new Comprehensive Campaign.
While the College will report back to the commission in November
on certain action items concerning policies and procedures
on academic freedom, student records, and grievance procedures,
Dr. Wolff made clear the consensus of the team regarding the
College overall. "[A]s found by the evaluation team consistently
in its review across the College, the College community is
clear about its mission, organized and aligned effectively
to accomplish it, and is providing effective evidence that
it is being accomplished."
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Spring 2002
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