The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association recently notified Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, that its monitoring report focused on assessment has been accepted by the Commission.
“We are very excited about the report received from the Higher Learning Commission,” said Dr. David Rankin, president of SAU. “We believe assessment is an essential part of the higher education learning process. I would like to congratulate Dr. Lisa Toms on her leadership in this very important effort.”
When the Commission visited the SAU campus in November 2002 for its regularly scheduled 10-year accreditation visit, it gave the University three years to rework its assessment plan.
“Assessment measures what the students are learning,” said Toms, assistant professor of marketing and chair of the Department of Management, Marketing, and Management Information Systems. “Our report showed what we wanted our students to learn, measuring if they learned it, and taking corrective action to ensure that learning is happening.”
Toms worked with department chairs and faculty to make the necessary changes to the University’s assessment plan.
“Each department decided the learning goals for their students,” said Toms.
The report was submitted to the Higher Learning Commission in November 2005.
“The report is complete,” said Toms. “We will not have another visit from the Commission until our scheduled visit in 2012.
“This certainly was a team effort by the entire University community. I would personally like to thank the University Assessment Committee and Dr. Elizabeth Davis, my predecessor in this position, for all of their hard work in getting ready for this report.”
