FIU earns 10-year SACS reaffirmation

Provost Douglas Wartzok announced that the Board of Trustees of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) – Commission on Colleges approved FIU’s reaffirmation of accreditation at its Dec. 6 board meeting. The reaffirmation is for a 10-year period. The decision represents years of planning and documentation for the university’s Compliance Certification Report, Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) and March 2010 site visit.

“The reaffirmation came with no reservations and no follow-up requirements,” said Wartzok, in an email to the university community. “It was a clean, complete, unqualified reaffirmation.”

The rigorous effort was led by Director of Accreditation Susan Himburg.

FIU’s Global Learning for Global Citizenship QEP is the university’s roadmap for enabling every undergraduate to act as an engaged global citizen. The implementation of this five-year initiative marks a new era in FIU’s World’s Ahead curriculum reform. Under the direction of Hilary Landorf, associate professor of education, the QEP has already gained national recognition for its innovative approach to integrating curriculum and co-curriculum for global learning. Nearly every academic, Student Affairs and administrative department has been involved in the development and design of Global Learning for Global Citizenship.

“This strong commitment to the QEP, along with ongoing assessment of student learning outcomes of each degree program, contributed to FIU’s successful reaffirmation,” said Wartzok.

Up next: a fifth year interim report due in March 2016 that will document the progress of the QEP and continued compliance with the SACS Principles of Accreditation, including degree program assessment of student learning outcomes.