The first draft of the Accreditation Program Presentation Plan

Dear SLIS Community,

The process of developing a Program Presentation for accreditation is developmental. With this in mind, I want to alert you that the first draft of the Program Presentation Plan is available for review and comment by our SLIS community (you!). The document may be viewed at the following location: Program Presentation Plan Draft I. The initial draft is the result of significant work by many individuals associated with the development of the Plan. I have so many individuals to thank, the dedicated faculty of the School, the students who have graciously agreed to participate in the process and our caring, engaged alumni, to name a few.

The Program Presentation Plan outlines the process the School will follow, and the evidence the School will provide, to demonstrate our compliance with the six accreditation Standards. The next step is to develop the complete Program Presentation, the document that forms the detailed discussion of our evidence to demonstrate our compliance with the Standards for our accreditation visit in 2009.

The Program Presentation Plan, once reviewed and revised and finalized, will be reviewed by the Executive Director of the Office of Accreditation and our External Review Panel chair. These two individuals will examine the Plan, give us their views on our progress and alert us to any issues they see that we need to address as we develop the actual Program Presentation. The Program Presentation will be submitted at the beginning of 2009 to the Committee on Accreditation of the American Library Association's Office of Accreditation.

For now, this is an excellent first draft that includes the work of a dedicated group of individuals who are committed to our success in 2009. The draft will be revised per the feedback we receive through our SLIS Accreditation Web Page, through review and revision by the six standard committees responsible for this document, the Alumni Board of Directors for SLIS, and from the SLIS Advisory Committee.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me or the chair of the standard committee responsible for the chapter.

Thanks
Dean Kelley

The SLIS Accreditation Forum

I hosted the first accreditation forum on Monday, February 11, 2008 for the entire SLIS community. The purpose of the forum was to begin the process of reviewing SLIS's current status on planning for our next accreditation visit and to provide further information on the issues that SLIS is addressing as we prepare our Program Presentation for the External Review Panel who will visit SLIS on March 23 & 24, 2009. I had the event taped so I could provide it to you as part of our efforts to keep you up-to-date and informed about all aspects of accreditation and the progress we're making. I also hope it will generate questions that you will ask me here in my blog so we can have a continuing dialogue and discuss issues that may arise, or concern you, as we progress toward the visit in 2009. The taped event can be accessed here: The Forum Video. Thanks to everyone who attended I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable discussion of the issues of importance to the future of SLIS.
Dean Kelley

The Latest on Accreditation Planning

It is always exciting to share good news. It is my pleasure to announce the creation of the SLIS Accreditation Web site to keep everyone informed of our activities and progress toward re-affirming our accreditation in 2009. The new Web site is available through the SLIS home page by selecting --> about SLIS ---> Accreditation from the left-hand menu at http://slis.cua.edu/. Or, if you prefer, the direct link to the site is: http://slis.cua.edu/about/Accreditation/. The many individuals giving generously of their time are listed at the site as are the documents and presentations related to preparing for an accreditation visit. In addition, the current progress of the School on developing planning documents, and a planning process, are located here for your perusal.

I will also be hosting a forum on accreditation on Monday, February 11th, 2008. I hope to see you there. The event will be webcast and a copy of the event will be made available through the accreditation Web site also. In the meantime, or if you cannot attend the first forum (there will be more!) please do not hesitate to check out our new Web site and share your views, questions, or concerns with me on the process.

The Web site is the hard work of Professor David Shumaker and Ms. Colleen Candrl. I extend my thanks to both of them for their assistance with establishing this important Web site for our SLIS community.

Thanks.
Dean Kelley