Committee Seeks Student Voice in QEP

By Broadside Staff Writer Jared Trice

In anticipation for the 2011 accreditation review, George Mason University’s Quality Enhancement Plan committee has chosen three topics on which university affiliates will vote, moving the university closer to choosing a directional topic for the enhancement of institutional practice.

The Quality Enhancement Plan is a system that all universities under review from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools must organize and enact before the 2011 review and continue to implement for five years in order to reaffirm accreditation, an affirmation of approval that provides students access to federally-subsidized aid, allows faculty the ability to compete for research grants and ensures that university courses will be recognized by other institutions.

The QEP planning committee consists of 17 committee members that will engage university students, faculty, staff and alumni in choosing a topic that will guide the university to enhanced institutional practice. The committee has narrowed the original twelve topics down to three: Cultivating Global Perspectives, Fostering a Culture of Student Scholarship, and Social Innovators and Social Entrepreneurs: 21st Century Leaders of Change.

Shannon Jacobsen, the QEP administrative specialist, explains that of the 12 original topics, eight were chosen by the Mason community and four of the eight were authored or co-authored by Mason students. Jacobsen continues, saying, “based on the community feedback and on the planning committee’s topic evaluation criteria, we were able to select three topic finalists. The committee made every effort to integrate any relevant ideas from the other nine proposals into the top three.”

The final topic for institutional direction will be chosen by the committee on April 28. Until that time, university students, faculty, staff and alumni are strongly encouraged by the QEP committee to assert their preference by completing a survey on the QEP website.

The university hopes to begin implementation of the chosen enhancement plan by the fall 2010 semester.

SACS will visit Mason in 2011 to ensure that the university is taking proper measures to implement the enhancement plan into institutional practice, the first step to strengthening student learning. If the university fails to meet SACS’ expectations for proper institutional introduction of the plan upon the 2011 review, Mason will have until the 2015 final accreditation review to successfully implement the plan.

Chelsea Surber, a senior government and international politics major and undergraduate QEP committee member, said, “while the accreditation process mandates a QEP, the university considers this an opportunity. By cultivating critical thinking skills, all three proposals take learning into the 21st century, preparing students for the changing career field.”

Surber continues, “In this budgetary time, when many things are getting cut back, this program propels the institution forward.”