By Laura Sanicola and Mike Byrne
The Middle States committee delivered a positive report to the Fordham community on Fordham’s status for re-accreditation.
The Middle States accreditation team, a non-governmental affiliated organization tasked with evaluating university’s self-assessments, was led by President of Boston College, Father William P. Leahy, S.J. He summarized its report in a presentation to Fordham students, faculty and administration last Wednesday afternoon.
The report was based in part on the visit and in part based on information provided in the university’s Middle States Self Study, which can be found under University Featured Links on the my.fordham banner. The study was assembled administrators, faculty and an assortment of students into various task forces to assess Fordham’s strengths and weaknesses.
The Middle States team found that Fordham met all the standards of accreditation, according to Fordham administrators, and the committee not ask for any follow-up progress reports, monitoring reports or recommendations that the university is obliged to address.
“This is as good of an outcome as we could have hoped for,” said Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Co-Chair of the Self Study Steering Committee, Jonathan Crystal.
The Middle States Self Study was released to the university in the same month as the draft of the Continuous University Strategic Plan (CUSP). Whereas the Middle States standards must be met for accreditation, CUSP is Fordham’s individual strategic plan.
“The Middle States Committee doesn’t come to judge whether or not we met or missed goals set out in our strategic plan,” Crystal said. “They’re asking whether we set goals for ourselves based on our mission, whether we develop strategies to attain these goals, whether we assess how effective we are in achieving our goals, and whether we use the results of that assessment to improve our effectiveness.”
The Middle States committee will make a final decision on the university’s accreditation , which occurs every ten years, in June. At that time, a formal report on Fordham’s self-evaluation will be released, according to administrators. Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, Michelle Burris, attributed the success of this year’s evaluation to the accuracy with which the university assessed itself.
“Fordham took a very honest look at itself,” Burris said. “That’s reflected in the report, as well as a sense of community among those who participated.”
Burris directed Standard Nine of the Self Study, which assessed student support services in part through the dissemination of surveys and focus groups of administration and students.
The Self Study contained several recommendations the university made for itself, including the establishment of “an integrated Office of Institutional Effectiveness that includes institutional research and supports the functions of assessment and planning.”
This past report also addressed Fordham’s need to prioritize diversity. “The University should devote increased attention and resources to more focused recruitment of African-American students,” the report stated.
In addition, student enrollment was addressed in this report. The undergraduate enrollment team should attempt to strengthen the yield and employ strategic marketing, admission, and financial aid measures to influence results according to this report.
Crystal called the Middle States preparation a “three year process” and The Fordham Ram first reported in 2014 that the university had began preparations.
The accreditation team pointed to the CUSP process as being indicative of Fordham’s commitment to its mission, according to university officials. The team felt that Fordham was effectively addressing many of its long-standing problems.
The team discussed the creation of the Provost office and the merging of the Undergraduate and Graduate School of Business under the Gabelli School of Business as showing Fordham’s commitment to institutional advancement.
The presentation also included advice for the university going forward.
“Hard decisions have to be made about priorities and effort needs to be devoted to developing new resources—for instance, alumni fundraising,” Crystal said. The team also said that the university would benefit from the creation of a long-term budget model to help make sure resources are available.
Leahy addressed connectivity issues between connecting the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses, which make it difficult to promote events, according to university officials.
The team suggested that Fordham clarify the learning goals of the core curriculum and examine how the university measures progress, according to Crystal.
Leahy advised the university to adopt a plan that would improve diversity among Fordham leadership.
The chair of the Diversity Task Force, Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., dean emeritus of the Graduate School of Social Service, concurred with the team.
“The Task Force in addition to other things that are going on at FU reflect Fordham’s commitment to making it a more diverse and inclusive community,” Vaughan said. “I believe the creation of the Task Force and other initiatives are definitely steps towards progress.”
