Core Requirement #2.12 (Quality Enhancement Plan)
The institution has developed an acceptable Quality Enhancement Plan and demonstrates that the plan is a part of an ongoing planning and evaluation process.
Compliance Certification
The College of William and Mary is in compliance with this requirement.
Explanation
In Spring 2001, Provost Gillian Cell created a task force to study existing practices of planning and evaluation. The task force included senior administrators, faculty members, and representatives from the professional administrative staff. It was clear to the task force that the planning and evaluation efforts had become mechanical and reactive in response to the budget circumstances. The task force called upon the Provost to create a smaller task group to lead in building on existing arrangements to create a carefully integrated approach to institutional effectiveness. Over the next year, the task group developed and tested models for collecting data necessary for evidence-based decision-making. At the same time, this group, which became the "SACS Working Group," began to consider fundamental questions about the uniqueness of the "William and Mary experience" in anticipation of centering planning and evaluation in ways that would lead to authentic enhancement.
Under the leadership of newly appointed Provost Geoffrey Feiss, the effort yielded an institution-wide strategy referred to as the Process of Institutional Effectiveness or PIE. All administrative units at the Vice Presidential level have developed or are developing and implementing the process. All academic departments and programs within the School of Arts and Sciences, likewise, have developed or are developing and implementing the process. The School of Marine Sciences also has developed a plan that follows the PIE model. The remaining three schools (Business, Education, and Law), have completed plans that link to the process through their individual accrediting requirements. (See Core Requirement 2.5 for more details.)
In the course of examining processes of planning and decision-making, and reflecting on the uniqueness of the William and Mary experience, the Working Group began to identify themes that characterize what we believe about our mission, our values, and our collective intentions. Members of the Working Group began intense discussions of these themes in Spring 2004 and continued through the summer of that year. The SACS Advisory Committee (the "Leadership Team") approved the SACS Re-Affirmation of Accreditation Plan in March of 2004. Later in the spring of that year, the co-chairs of the Committee (President Timothy Sullivan and David Aday, Project Director) introduced a working paper outlining ideas for a quality enhancement plan that focused on "expanding the learning community." After reaching consensus on core ideas, Committee members were asked to begin discussions with their constituencies about faculty-student collaborations, inquiry-based learning, and related concepts. A working paper was circulated to the Committee and, following discussions, was posted to the SACS Re-Affirmation website (see Quality Enhancement Plan Prospectus).
In Spring 2005, Professor Aday reported on the progress of the Compliance Certification review and introduced framing ideas for a quality enhancement plan in meetings with the following groups: the William and Mary Board of Visitors, the Faculty Assembly, the Faculty Committee on University Priorities, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Dean's Advisory Council. In each instance, Aday urged those present to read the on-line draft and to respond with comments and suggestions. It is notable, as well, that members of all of the groups received the core ideas for the quality enhancement plan with some enthusiasm.
In Fall 2005, a subcommittee of the SACS Advisory Committee will join with members of the SACS Compliance Team to begin to craft a more detailed proposal. The Provost designed the SACS Committee structure to ensure that re-affirmation activities are folded into the ongoing governance of the College. (For example, the Advisory Committee includes representatives from the Faculty Assembly, from the Dean's Advisory Council, from the various schools, and from the three general divisions of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.) Accordingly, the SACS Advisory Committee leaders will work through the Re-Affirmation Committee structure to ensure full participation of the College community in the development and implementation of the quality enhancement plan.