The Skyline Newspaper

On March 24, Texas Monthly journalist John Spong discussed the article he wrote about Mike Flynt: “Untitled Mike Flynt Project.” Photo by Jason Hennington

The latest edition of the Skyline will be posted online Monday, April 7. Sorry for the delay.

SACS to Visit Campus; Wear Your Lobo Stars

SRSU students, staff, faculty, and friends are asked to wear their Lobo Stars to demonstrate support for the QEP on Monday, March 31st, when an eleven-member representative team from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) conducts interviews on campus. The SACS visit is part of the process of reaffirmation of accreditation for Sul Ross. SRSU has submitted a Compliance Report to SACS and completed a Focused Report to address additional requests. The onsite visit will mainly review the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) also known as Lobo Stars.

A committee of 43 has been at work on the plan since fall 2006. The supporting research document explaining SRSU’s QEP is available on-line via the intranet at http://sacs.sulross.edu/. This 75-page document includes an explanation of the SRSU plan to enhance student learning through engagement with their classes with support from university activities. The plan includes three strategies: increasing outdoor learning opportunities, pilot programs to encourage innovation, and a faculty support center.

According to SRSU President, R. Vic Morgan, “We are optimistic that our Focused Report and our QEP will meet with the general approval of the visiting team, although there are often specific suggestions for improvement. Reaffirmation has actually become an opportunity for SRSU to design and implement exciting plans for improving student engagement and learning on our campuses.” 

Student learning will be measured through administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the critical thinking portion of the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) test. These two instruments also represent the two requirements, engagement survey and academic testing, of the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) that has been designed and sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Sul Ross has registered for participation in the VSA. Thus, the QEP assessment plan also fits neatly into a larger national plan to help students and parents select a university that will provide the educational opportunities desired.

According to Morgan, “SRSU should look very attractive on the VSA website. We will rank close to the top for ratio of available laboratory equipment per student, number of full-time Ph.D. faculty who teach freshman courses, campus safety, and numerous other categories. We will also rank near the top for affordability and small class size. We also believe that our students can make significant progress in critical thinking during their four years at SRSU. The NSSE survey and the CAAP test should work together well to guide us toward demonstrating that our graduates receive a quality education for a reasonable price.”

As research reviewed in the QEP document demonstrates, higher education is now focusing on “value-added learning” or measuring how much progress students make during their college careers as a measure of quality, rather than using a university’s endowment fund or the ACT/SAT test scores of their entering freshmen to determine quality.

A similar QEP document was created by a similar committee at SRSU’s Rio Grande College campus. Both QEP’s will be evaluated by the SACS review team.