News        from ABAC

Michael D. Chason Director of Public Relations ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601 Phone 229-391-5055 Fax 229-391-5056 mchason@abac.edu

IMMEDIATE JUNE 30, 2005

ABAC PREPARES FOR SACS EVALUATION

TIFTON – The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) will be conducting a re-affirmation of accreditation of Abraham Baldwin College in the spring and fall of 2006. SACS conducts these re-affirmations every 10 years.

Accreditation by SACS signifies that an institution has a purpose appropriate to higher education and has resources, programs, and services sufficient to accomplish and sustain that purpose.

Dr. Donna Miller, Director of Institutional Research and SACS liaison, said, “This is a two-part process. In May of 2006, there will be an off – site review of the compliance standards for ABAC, and then evaluators will come to the campus in October of 2006 to evaluate the quality enhancement plan of the campus.”

ABAC has core requirements, or necessary parts to this re-affirmation that must be complied with. If compliance is not met, ABAC will be asked to fix the problem or receive a warning. If the college receives a warning, this warning applies to the whole institution. This review will take place May 15 – 18, 2006.

The second part of this process is an on - site Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Evaluators will meet with the QEP team at ABAC to see if the plan for improving an area of the college that will benefit student learning is in context with its missions, resources, and capacities in order to carry on in an environment where teaching, public service, research, and learning can occur. Evaluators will be on the campus of ABAC Oct. 9 – 11, 2006.

“We expect ABAC to maintain its good standings in each SACS evaluation without any difficulties,” Miller said.

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