Accreditation
Go to 2012 Accreditation Self Evaluation Report -- Go to Accreditation Standards In-Depth -- Go to College Reports for Accreditation -- Go to Annual Program Review -- 2012 Timeline
Bakersfield College is taking steps to ensure that accreditation is embedded within our ongoing processes so that it becomes a natural part of campus culture. One step in this is the creation of the Accreditation Steering Committee (ASC) that will "institutionalize the dynamic accreditation process, establish the structure of the Self-Study, and prepare for the on-site visitation of the Accreditation Team in 2012 as well as future accreditation visits." (Decision-Making Document, p. 13) More details of their charge and membership is available on page 22 of the DMD. The ASC Philosophy Statement describes the principles that will guide them in their work.
As part of embedding accreditation into college processes, the ASC is revamping the documents used in college planning to better link budget decisions with college planning. These are described in the Annual Program Review section.
The college is preparing its self-evaluation report using SharePoint. Go to the Accreditation SharePoint site. Your login is your BC campus network username and your password is your BC campus network password.
The Self-Evaluation Committee (SEC) was formed in Spring 2011 to begin work on the Self-Study document (select the link to bring up the charge of SEC as a PDF). Rebecca Mooney (X4455) was faculty co-chair and Bonnie Suderman was administrative co-chair of the SEC. As part of the training for members of the SEC and the various task forces that worked on the sub-sets of the accreditation standards, the ASC created a four-page executive summary of the accreditation standards. You can access other documents used by the ASC and any reports they generate from the ASC Exchange public folder (the link will take you right to their public folder after you login to Outlook Web).
The SEC got participation from all areas of the college (including Delano and Weill centers). Possible ways to serve for people to serve included co-chairing one of the eleven sub-committees listed at the bottom of this page (links take you to one-paragraph descriptions in the four-page executive summary); working with colleagues on one of the eleven sub-committees; participating in focus groups; and participating in the Accreditation Survey that was open to all college employees and students in October 2011. The sub-committees finished their writing and gathering of evidence by Thanksgiving 2011, though some tweaking of the eleven sections of the Self-Evaluation Report did happen over the winter break. Jennifer Jett was hired as the Editor to draw all the eleven sections together so that the final total report spoke as one voice. She will finish this compilation February 14, 2012. The completed report was presented to the public on August 22, 2012. The timeline for the rest of the steps is found on the 2012 Timeline page.
During the self evaluation process, Bakersfield College identified five areas that we fail to meet the accreditation standards. Actionable Improvement Plans were created for those five areas (the full report has all of the background information and rationale for those actionable improvement plans). The actionable improvement plans are an integral part of Bakersfield College's three-year strategic plan for 2012-2015.
Here are the eleven subcommittees and their administrative+faculty co-chairs for the 2012 Accreditation.
| Standard subset | Admin co-chair | Faculty co-chair |
|---|---|---|
| I.A. Mission | Greg Chamberlain | Kathy Rosellini |
| I.B. Improving Institutional Effectiveness | Ann Morgan | David Koeth |
| II.A. Instructional Programs | Steven Eaton | Nick Strobel |
| II.B. Student Support Services | Joyce Ester | Barbara Braid |
| II.C. Library and Learning Support Services | Bonnie Suderman | Nancy Guidry |
| III.A. Human Resources | Primavera Arvizu | Leah Carter |
| III.B. Physical Resources | Paula Bray | Phil Whitney |
| III.C. Technology Resources | Todd Coston | Tim Bohan |
| III.D. Financial Resources | LaMont Schiers | John Hart |
| IV.A. Decision-Making Roles and Processes | Dan O'Connor | Tom Moran |
| IV.B. Board and Administrative Organization | Greg Chamberlain | John Gerhold |
Bakersfield College's past reports (including self-studies) to and from our accrediting body, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACCJC/WASC), are available on BC's Accreditation report website.
An FAQ on accreditation was put out by WASC in November 2010. View it by selecting the link in the previous sentence. Questions answered include: What is regional accreditation? What authority do regional accreditors like ACCJC have to impose Accreditation Standards on institutions? What is the purpose of regional accreditation? How is the accreditation review conducted? What are the Accreditation Standards? Who are the Commissioners? How are the members of the Commission selected? Who serves on evaluation teams? Are the institutions expected to meet all Accreditation Standards at all times? Does the Commission’s process help institutions improve, or just expose them to negative publicity when the institution is found not to meet all Accreditation Standards? If found out of compliance, how long does the institution have to correct that situation? Is there a limit on the amount of time an institution will be given to improve? How does the Commission ensure that its decisions are fair and unbiased, and that its evaluation teams are unbiased?
For more on the accreditation standards, go to the Accreditation Standards In-Depth page.
This page was last updated: September 11, 2012
Contact for this page: Nick Strobel
