Faculty gets thumbs up

Last week, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Special Committee released a report accepting North Lake College’s “aggressive steps” to fix 10 of the 45 deficiencies identified by a visiting committee in March.

North Lake’s President Linda Glasscock was pleased with the report, which was submitted following a September revisit. The report said, “…between the Reaffirmation Committee visit in March 2003 and the Special Committee visit in September 2003, the college took aggressive steps to remedy deficiencies identified by the Reaffirmation Committee. The college’s efforts to improve the number and quality of full-time faculty were evident to the Special Committee…”

Last March, the SACS Reaffirmation Committee cited NLC with 45 recommendations. In order to retain accreditation, North Lake must address each one. Of the 45 recommendations, 10 involved faculty credentials. During the September revisit to check North Lake’s progress in rectifying the credential issues, the Special Committee analyzed 444 faculty files for the appropriate credentials.

During the original SACS visit, the Reaffirmation Committee found “217 part-time faculty members who did not meet the criteria.” By September, “181 no longer teach for North Lake College, and 36 provided the documentation necessary to substantiate appropriate academic preparation and professional experience.”

In its original audit, the SACS Reaffirmation Committee found deficiencies in credentials of full- and part-time faculty for credit courses of humanities/fine arts, social/behavioral sciences, and natural sciences/mathematics. As a result of the March recommendations, 32 of the instructors are no longer employed at NLC.

The September preliminary report said that the Special Committee’s review found that all remaining and new faculty possessed the appropriate credentials with only one well-justified exception. The report states that this one member lacked three graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline. However, “appropriate documentation was provided in the form of outstanding professional experience to justify an exception,” according to the preliminary report.

The spring roster listed 84 instructors who were on staff as exceptions; however, none of these remain employed at NLC. When the Reaffirmation Committee inspected credentials last spring it found that of 58 instructors of remedial courses, there were 15 in non-compliance. Eight have completed the requirements and provided evidence of qualifications. The other seven instructors are no longer teaching at NLC. The committee report states that it found “the number of full-time faculty members to provide effective teaching, advising, and scholarly or creative activity to be adequate.”

The original SACS recommendations came at the same time as state budgets cuts were handed out. The result was a balancing act, and NLC staff rose to the occasion, forming committees to address the necessary quick changes.
With this year’s allocation of funds, Glasscock said the college must operate efficiently, especially while adding full-time faculty. “The Board of Trustees has been very supportive in serving a growing population,” said Glasscock.

NLC is adhering to SACS compliance requirements while reassessing the current class offerings. Glasscock said expansion of class offerings and the funding of faculty to meet those needs are being reviewed. Classes will be reviewed for possible additions to the schedule. However, the schedule will require tightening and marginal classes could face being cut. The mini-semesters will be added to the schedule with limited offerings of classes.
SACS’ final report regarding NLC’s reaffirmation of accreditation is due in December.

“We anticipate a big splash in December from the final SACS report,” Glasscock said.