Ball State is asking the Muncie community to critique the plans and goals of the university during its accreditation process.
This process is completed every 10 years.
As the first step of the process, self-study committees have drafted a report focusing on the five major criteria and 21 core standards established by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The draft is available on Ball State’s website.
Marilyn Buck, assistant provost, said Ball State should not worry about receiving its accreditation.
“It’s an important process and it’s a time when we need to work toward learning who we are and what we’re doing,” she said. “But if we do the process the way we’re supposed to, and we are, we will have our accreditation continued.”
This accreditation process also is important because it allows the university to receive funding from the federal government, said Michael Maggiotto, dean of the College of Sciences and Humanities.
“Any institution needs to reflect on whether or not it has achieved its goals,” he said. “The criteria that are used to evaluate us are generally accepted criteria of excellence in higher education. It’s a continuous quality improvement.”
The committees have established three open forums for students, faculty and the community to review and comment on the draft. These forums are webcast on the university’s website.
The first was Wednesday in the Ball Communication Building.
Buck said several individuals were listening but only three made comments.
“[We’re asking people to] help us to know if we’ve told the story in the right way and if we’ve gotten the picture right,” she said. “If not, help us to change it.”
The next forum will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Prairie Creek Room at the Horizon Convention Center. The last forum will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday in the Ball Communication Building. There is also an accreditation survey on Ball State’s website.
The community must submit comments by Nov. 21.
After that time, the committees will revise the draft, collect stories of people’s experiences at the university and collect documents supporting the claims made in the report.
The community will have one last opportunity to review the report before it is submitted in the spring or early summer of 2013.
In October 2013, there will be a team visiting the university to look at additional documents and conduct interviews.
There will be an open forum for students to attend where the team will ask questions.
“Their purpose here is to verify that what we said is who we really are,” Buck said.
The team also will stop people on the streets during their visit. This could include students, vendors and parents — anyone who happens to be on campus at the time.
After the visit, the board will meet to decide if the university will receive its accreditation status, a process that could take another two to three months.
In the last 10 years since Ball State has last gone through the accreditation process, Buck and Maggiotto agreed the university has changed dramatically.
Several buildings had not been built, including Shafer Tower, the David Letterman Communication and Media Building and the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.
“We’re a very different institution than we were 10 years ago,” Maggiotto said. “I think we’re proud to tell that story and proud of how far we’ve come. We feel we have a very strong case for excellence.”
One change that is not physical, though, is the way the state thinks about Ball State.
Ten years ago, Buck said most people considered Ball State to be a second-tier school, below Indiana University and Purdue University.
“Now, by many people that I work with in the state, Ball State, IU and Purdue are considered the big three and tend to lead things in terms of state initiatives,” Buck said.
This change has made it fun to get up and come to work every day, Buck said.
“I love working at a vibrant, dynamic institution that is constantly working to be better, to move forward, to progress,” she said. “I think from the student standpoint, it makes for a very exciting place to learn and to be a part of, and to basically be contributing to who the university is becoming.”
