Looking Back On a Great Academic Year

As we begin to wrap up the Spring 2014 semester, I can’t help but to take a moment and look back on the last nine months and all the exciting accomplishments we enjoyed at NC State.

The President visited campus to announce the largest research grant in our history with the $140 million Next Generation Power Electronics National Manufacturing Innovation Institute. We opened the $60 million Laboratory for Analytic Sciences as part of our leadership role in the area of Big Data. We also had incredible faculty awards like the O. Max Gardner award and another induction into the National Academies – for the fifth straight year. And of course we had great student success in the classroom and in the sporting arena.

One success you may not have heard about was the accreditation process we went through with The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. (SACSCOC) This organization is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.

We started the SACSCOC review just over two years ago.  There are two main components:  a compliance review that involves preparing reports describing NC State’s compliance with 92 standards and policies, and a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) focused on improving student learning in some deliberate and focused way. Our QEP focus is critical and creative thinking.

In addition to preparing these reports, we hosted an on-site visit by a team of SACSCOC reviewers.  They evaluated both our compliance reports and the QEP and will report to the SACSCOC Board of Trustees this fall with recommendations for our continued accreditation.

Dedicated NC State staff assisted with the review in dozens and dozens of ways –from compiling and provided material, to arranging interviews and helping the SACSCOC reviewers. They worked tirelessly on this project and I thank them for all their efforts.

Very soon the campus will seem a little quieter with many students enjoying their summers, while others will be taking summer classes, but be assured that preparations are already underway for the start of the Fall 2014 semester.

Sincerely,

Randy Woodson
Chancellor
NC State