This academic year, Francis Marion University will undergo a review for accreditation conducted by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Over the past three years, our faculty, staff, students, and trustees have worked diligently in preparation for this event. The standing committees of the faculty and two ad hoc institutional committees have been involved in the examination and assessment of numerous academic and administrative processes, programs, and procedures. The compliance report represents the culmination of this work. We are pleased with the information and data contained herein and confident that it presents a compelling case for the University’s reaccreditation. We are especially proud of the profile that it presents of a dynamic regional university and the successes realized since its founding forty eight years ago.
This accreditation preparation cycle has also led to the development of Francis Marion’s new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), appropriately titled Professional Experience and Knowledge (PEAK). Whereas the previous QEP broadened students’ perspectives, largely through travel opportunities, the new PEAK program presents an ambitious, yet achievable, framework for providing students with opportunities to develop interpersonal and leadership skills and to become more involved within business, government, and public organizations. PEAK will help students transition from school to careers. During this past legislative session, the South Carolina General Assembly committed a recurring appropriation amply sufficient to insure the plan’s implementation well into the future.
Our university and faculty accreditation liaisons, Charlene Wages and Rusty Ward, and the QEP Committee Chair, Marie DeVincenzo, have coordinated efforts for the presentation of the Compliance Report and Quality Enhancement Plan to the off-site and on-site review committees. After so much preparation, we are truly eager to begin these review processes.
Luther F. Carter
President
July 19, 2017