College of Staten Island President Dr. Tomás D. Morales
The College of Staten Island has recently launched its Middle States Reaccreditation 2011-2012 Website, which provides details of the College’s self-study design, process, and planning.
Commenting on the Middle States reaccreditation process, CSI President Dr. Tomás D. Morales, says, “As the College’s Chief Executive Officer, I share in the enthusiasm, pride, and dedication that my colleagues across our campus have for this important milestone in the life of our institution.”
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is a non-governmental association that is dedicated to quality assurance and improvement through the process of accreditation via peer evaluation. To achieve this, Middle States requires that of each of its more than 520 member institutions periodically undertakes an intensive self-study and review by an external review team.
More than 130 members of CSI’s broad campus community are directly involved in the College’s reaccreditation process–an opportunity for retrospection, introspection, analysis, and renewal. With its special emphasis, entitled “Developing and Strengthening Assessment and Evidence-Based Decision Making to Continue Building Institutional Effectiveness,” the self-study design has already resulted in substantial discussion about student learning, integrity, transparency, processes, and planning.
CSI’s self-study design is also pluralistic, inclusive, and innovative, with its seven Working Groups, a matrix structure, advocate groups, and a Special Resource Committee.
“The timeline is ambitious,” Dr. Morales noted, “but we are well on our way and are prepared for the task. Our campus looks forward to hosting our Visiting Team in the spring of 2012.”
The President added, “I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to our self-study Co-Chairs, Dr. Susan L. Holak, Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Professor of Marketing, and Dr. Richard Gid Powers, Professor of History, for their leadership in this multi-year effort. I would also like to convey my gratitude to all our colleagues who are directly involved in working groups or committees, and to our extended campus community for supporting this important effort on the life of the College.”
