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MUSC earns SACS reaccreditation, establishes strategic goals for future by Cindy Abole Public Relations After an intense two-year self-study process, MUSC‘s accreditation was reaffirmed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) on Dec. 11, endorsing the institution’s academic programs, operations, strategic plan and quality enhancement plan for a 10-year period. The announcement was unveiled at the 2007 Commission on Colleges Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Dec. 8-11.   South Carolina’s sole comprehensive academic health center now joins seven other free-standing academic health centers in the southeast and more than 700 southern colleges and universities that are regionally accredited by this organization.   “Reaffirmation is critical for every aspect of our missions—teaching, research and service,” said John Raymond, M.D., vice president of academic affairs and provost, at the beginning of this major initiative. “Successful reaffirmation will enhance the delivery of clinical care and training by validating the quality of our institution and highlighting our commitment to continuing quality improvement.”   The process examined the university’s compliance with more than 80 comprehensive standards and general core requirements, peer review of written documents, and assessment of the institution’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) that considers the campus’ course of action or framework to improving education and enhancing student learning.   During the process, 10 separate working committees comprising of more than 110 faculty, staff and students voluntarily participated in writing MUSC’s response and obtaining the documentation to each one of these standards, while many others gave their assistance when requested. This was followed by participation at all levels, including the University Board of Trustees, in presenting and defending these assessments to both off-site and on-site review teams comprised of SACS appointed members from peer institutions.   The working committees were core requirements, institutional effectiveness, governance, programs, faculty, students and learning resources, resources, and federal requirements as well as the committee that conceived the Quality Assessment Plan. In addition, two oversight/administrative groups guided the whole process: reaffirmation oversight and SACS steering committees.   “Reaffirmation of accreditation is an endorsement by one’s institutional peers of its mission and its corresponding achievement,” said Carol J. Lancaster, Ph.D., associate professor and assistant provost for institutional assessment, Office of Integrated Planning and Assessment. “Our outcome was the result of unstinting effort by many people on campus. With effective organization and exemplary cooperation, we were able to successfully complete a large task. Congratulations to the team.”      A major part of the SACS reaffirmation process was defining the Creating Collaborative Care (C3) initiative as the QEP. C3 is the campus’ broad-based course of action that focuses on interprofessional education activities, student learning and team building opportunities involving faculty, students from multiple health disciplines and community members throughout the state. C3 was created in response to Institute of Medicine reports that praise the success of interprofessional teams in today’s health care arena. The initiative was formally introduced in February and approved by the MUSC Board of Trustees and reviewed by the SACS On-Site Review Team last March.      “There were many individuals who made very significant contributions in the preparation of our responses to SACS,” said Tom Higerd, Ph.D., associate provost and MUSC’s liaison to SACS. “They understood how critical this reaffirmation was to MUSC; it was not viewed as simply a task to be performed, but rather as a public validation of our existing and proposed academic programs.  This reaffirmation reflects the excellence of our faculty, staff and students better than any metric we can develop and confirms our ability to organize, plan and implement new initiatives.”   By 2012, MUSC is expected to provide a follow-up, five-year quantitative evaluation report measuring the success of the C3 initiative.     Friday, Dec. 21, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.