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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (Dec. 11, 2012) — Milligan College has received reaffirmation of its accreditation for the next 10 years from its accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools-Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC).
The announcement was made today at the annual SACS-COC meeting in Dallas. Milligan has been accredited by SACS-COC since 1960. Its next reaffirmation will take place in 2022.
“When the SACS visiting team was on our campus in March, they were extremely impressed with Milligan and had no recommendations for us,” said Milligan’s President Dr. Bill Greer. “This is an extraordinary achievement and means that they found us to be in compliance with all of their standards for accreditation and that they approved our Quality Enhancement Plan.
“It was very gratifying to receive the official word of our reaffirmation today, and I am extremely proud of the individuals who make up such a dynamic and growing community of Christian scholars at Milligan.”
The SACS-COC is the recognized regional accrediting body in the 11 U.S. Southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia) and in Latin America for those institutions of higher education that award associate, baccalaureate, master’s or doctoral degrees. The COC’s Board of Trustees is the representative body of the College Delegate Assembly and is charged with carrying out the accreditation process.
To gain or maintain accreditation with the COC, an institution must comply with the standards contained in the “Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement” and with the policies and procedures of the COC.
Another key step in the reaffirmation process is the concept of quality enhancement. Each institution seeking reaffirmation of accreditation is required to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The QEP describes a carefully designed and focused course of action that addresses a well-defined topic or issue(s) related to enhancing student learning.
Milligan’s QEP is titled “RISE Above,” which stands for Research Increases Student Engagement. The focus of RISE Above, which began this fall, is on faculty-mentored student research.
Through RISE Above, Milligan’s undergraduate students will learn more about research in the Introduction to College, Calling and Career, and composition courses. Among other initiatives, the program includes special events and seminars for students to hear about research from others or to present their own research. Students who want to do a research project related to their major can enroll in a special course and work one-on-one with a faculty mentor.
“Milligan’s QEP encourages students to apply what they learn in the classroom in broader ways to help better prepare them for competitive jobs and to enter competitive graduate schools,” said Dr. R. Garland Young, Milligan’s vice president for academic affairs and dean. “We are pleased with the outcome of our QEP because not only was it an important part of our reaffirmation, but it will ultimately strengthen our institution across all of our undergraduate academic areas.”
To learn more about SACS-COC, visit www.sacscoc.org. For more information about Milligan’s RISE Above, visit www.milligan.edu/riseabove.