Post Accreditation Visit
Last week’s accreditation site visit was the culmination of IVC’s year-round efforts of continuous reflection and improvement to ensure we are providing the best learning environment and achieving our college mission. Our work in preparation for the visit began well over a year ago as we developed our Institutional Self Evaluation Report (ISER) to demonstrate how we are meeting accreditation standards and complying with eligibility requirements in alignment with commission policies and U.S. Department of Education regulations.
Following the Team ISER Review on October 16, 2023, IVC received three core inquiries. These inquiries served as a communication tool to highlight questions, identify potential areas for institutional enhancement, or to validate exemplary practices. Core Inquiries are divided into two distinct possible outcomes: commendations and recommendations. In preparation for the site visit, IVC was presented with an opportunity to address one possible recommendation and two potential commendations. The goal of our responses was to provide details and additional evidence demonstrating progress for each core inquiry.
IVC’s focused site visit was the most seamless and affirming accreditation visit I have experienced in my career. This speaks volumes for our pre-visit preparation, our ability to effectively communicate IVC’s story, and to showcase the incredible work occurring at our beloved college. The team provided encouraging feedback on multiple occasions, including at the core inquiry interviews, during the campus tour, while meeting with the Board of Trustees’ officers, and in my one-on-one meetings with the visiting chair.
What was most encouraging was what we heard at the Exit-Report meeting:
Recognition of a strong student-centered culture, collegial transparency, a commitment to equitable and inclusive practices, trust and cooperation which speaks to an inter-dependence between employees and shared governance groups, and a strong campus morale.
While the team could not definitively convey what recommendation or commendations would be included in the final report, all you had to do was listen carefully to what was inferred. I feel confident that IVC will not receive a recommendation. Instead, I am optimistic that we will receive commendations and/or the elevation of our exemplary practices to include: a distinct transfer culture with high-touch support, pervasive use of equity-minded data to inform our practice and college priorities, excellence in our professional development and human resources off-boarding, and significance through the positive ways Caring Campus has enriched and shaped our institutional culture.
The team’s final report will be received by the ACCJC Commission who will review and act on the report at their June meeting. I again feel confident IVC will receive a full seven-year accreditation affirmation.
I’ve recognized and thanked the many individuals and departments who have contributed to our overall accreditation efforts and the list is quite long and due to space limitations will not be included in this column. However, these individuals know who they are, and we are indebted to your active engagement with the development of the college’s ISER, responding to the core inquiries, monitoring our progress on the core inquiries, participating in core inquiry interviews, and preparing all logistics for the visit. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the leadership and guidance provided for the visit from our institution’s accreditation liaison officer, Vice President Miranda.
We have much to be thankful for and we have much to celebrate. Thank you for trusting me with the responsibility to serve as your college president. I am beyond proud of what we’ve accomplished in the past few years and look forward to what lies ahead. I firmly believe the best is yet to come.
Best,
John