Auditors take a peek
Michael Reporto
Issue date: 3/16/09 Section: News
Benedictine University recently welcomed auditors to the campus whose role was to make sure that the school is running correctly and efficiently.
Creditors Dave Connor and Laurie Pemberton began the new accreditation process on Feb. 18 and concluded on Feb. 20.
"The traditional form is making sure you're doing what you say you're doing, and the new approach states that you are becoming the institution that you want to be," said John Lewis, professor of sociology.
Lewis was chosen to work with the accreditation process by the administration. They chose him because he has been highly involved on campus for over 20 years.
The accreditation process has been changed from a ten-year annual checkup, to a brand new seven-year project called the Academic Quality Improvement Program. The ten-year, or traditional form of accreditation, changed so that the campus is constantly being accredited instead of preparing once every ten years.
When asked how he and others felt about working with the auditors, he said, "We were feeling anxious and we didn't want to overlook anything, but we wanted to make sure everything was in place."
The accreditation process focused on everything from registrar's documents to faculty backgrounds.
The process was to make sure, for example, that members of the faculty have certified degrees, students qualify for grants and that the degrees that students receive from the university are certified.
Over the three-day time span, the auditors covered general auditing and looked in to different strategic plans for the future. An open faculty forum was held with no administrators for discussion on the accreditation process.
The creditors were very impressed with the nature of our campus. They were fascinated with all of the options given to our students to study abroad. They really enjoyed the work put forth into the national study abroad programs, as well as the diversity amongst our student body, said Lewis. They discussed social networking, met with students about their experiences on campus and looked the academic support given to students. On Feb. 20, they presented some of their early findings and feelings.
"The first things they said was that they were struck about how friendly and open the campus was," said Lewis. "They liked the diversity of our student body because of the different ages and different backgrounds of our students."
"I'm glad the auditors noticed our campuses diversity amongst the student body," said freshman Dominic Rocco. "Our school is very proud of the mixture of cultures and backgrounds of our student body."
The process ended on a high note, and the auditors were very impressed with the University.
Creditors Dave Connor and Laurie Pemberton began the new accreditation process on Feb. 18 and concluded on Feb. 20.
"The traditional form is making sure you're doing what you say you're doing, and the new approach states that you are becoming the institution that you want to be," said John Lewis, professor of sociology.
Lewis was chosen to work with the accreditation process by the administration. They chose him because he has been highly involved on campus for over 20 years.
The accreditation process has been changed from a ten-year annual checkup, to a brand new seven-year project called the Academic Quality Improvement Program. The ten-year, or traditional form of accreditation, changed so that the campus is constantly being accredited instead of preparing once every ten years.
When asked how he and others felt about working with the auditors, he said, "We were feeling anxious and we didn't want to overlook anything, but we wanted to make sure everything was in place."
The accreditation process focused on everything from registrar's documents to faculty backgrounds.
The process was to make sure, for example, that members of the faculty have certified degrees, students qualify for grants and that the degrees that students receive from the university are certified.
Over the three-day time span, the auditors covered general auditing and looked in to different strategic plans for the future. An open faculty forum was held with no administrators for discussion on the accreditation process.
The creditors were very impressed with the nature of our campus. They were fascinated with all of the options given to our students to study abroad. They really enjoyed the work put forth into the national study abroad programs, as well as the diversity amongst our student body, said Lewis. They discussed social networking, met with students about their experiences on campus and looked the academic support given to students. On Feb. 20, they presented some of their early findings and feelings.
"The first things they said was that they were struck about how friendly and open the campus was," said Lewis. "They liked the diversity of our student body because of the different ages and different backgrounds of our students."
"I'm glad the auditors noticed our campuses diversity amongst the student body," said freshman Dominic Rocco. "Our school is very proud of the mixture of cultures and backgrounds of our student body."
The process ended on a high note, and the auditors were very impressed with the University.
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