2-member WASC team visits NMC

A two-member team from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges is currently on island for a final visit to the Northern Marianas College.

The CNMI’s lone tertiary institution is currently on show-cause status and is working to affirm its accreditation.

Dr. Sherrill Amador, chair of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, and Dr. Chris Myers, interim director for Cerritos College Research and Planning, make up the WASC delegation.

The two are here to validate the contents of NMC’s report submitted on April 1.

The team, Saipan Tribune learned, will submit their recommendations to the commission, which is scheduled to give its verdict on the fate of the island’s community college this June.

The commission placed NMC on continued show-cause status following noncompliance with two recommendations related to program review and assessment and its connection to the college’s financing.

Amador and Myers are expected to complete their final check today.

The April 1 report, NMC said, provides details and examples of the college’s compliance with integrating planning, program review, and budgeting as well as institutionalizing the program review process.

To prepare for the team visit, NMC officials continued the work it initiated when the college was placed on show-cause status in January 2008. These include linking, planning, program review, and resource allocation; institutionalizing a systematic program review process; developing, measuring, and analyzing student learning outcomes; enhancing employee evaluation processes; securing funding to address short- and long-term facilities needs; and building administrative capacity through the recruitment of highly qualified staff and the provision of recurring professional development opportunities.

During the two-day visit, the team is scheduled to meet with various individuals and groups at the campus including the Board of Regents, NMC president Dr. Carmen Fernandez, members of the management team, representatives of various departments, constituent groups like the staff senate, faculty senate, and the Associated Students of NMC.

The two are also expected to meet with NMC’s shared governance groups like the college council, the Budget and Finance Committee, and the Planning, Program Review and Outcomes Assessment Committee, PROAC.

Fernandez said yesterday that until the team report is made public, representatives of the college will be unable to comment specifically and publicly on any discussions they had with the visiting team.

Saipan Tribune learned that the team’s observations and findings will be submitted directly to the full membership of the commission where a decision on NMC is expected to be made.

Fernandez stressed that NMC remains accredited throughout the show-cause period.

In the event NMC gets its full accreditation in June, the instructional sites on Rota and Tinian will remain closed to academic programs.

The president earlier said that until NMC is able to fully meet all accreditation standards, the possibility of re-opening the two sites is deemed unrealistic due to funding concerns.

However, NMC will continue the process of evaluating the distance learning education for Rota and Tinian sites.