Fernandez told the board that an electronic copy of the report will be sent to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges on time, Oct. 15.
“We’re coming close to our final report,” she said. “It indicates all the areas that were identified for compliance including program review process, institutional program, student learning outcome and the corrective measures or the action plans for the FY 2007 audit of the college.”
The report also includes the “closure plan” required by the accrediting commission, which will make a decision on NMC’s accreditation early next year.
Fernandez said after the submission of the report, NMC will conduct a campus-wide educational campaign in preparation for the three-day final visit of a WASC team on Nov. 3-5.
“The visiting team will come to verify the report we will submit on Oct. 15,” she added. “We’re expecting the group to do some inspection, review and verification to see that the report we provided is true and correct.”
According to Fernandez, they are confident that “all the hard work” by the college and the community will produce “positive results.”
Fernandez said it is important to prepare the students as the team may conduct on-the-spot interviews and inquiries. “We need to make sure that our students are fully aware of what we have indicated in our report to the commission,” she added.
The WASC team will also meet with college officials, including the regents. “The bottom line is everyone needs to be ready…for this visit because this team will recommend to the commission what action to take for our institution,” Fernandez said.
NMC was placed on show-cause status for failing to address the concerns raised by the commission in previous years.
