5930 Middle Fiskville Road Austin, Texas

Transcription

1 Office of the President 5930 Middle Fiskville Road Austin, Texas July 5, 2011 Dr. Belle S. Wheelan President Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges 1866 Southern Lane Decatur, Georgia Dear Dr. Wheelan: In preparation for Austin Community College s (ACC) upcoming compliance certification for the reaffirmation process (Class of 2013), the College recently completed an intensive, two-year audit of its compliance with the Substantive Change Policy. This was conducted as a result of learning at the December 2008 SACSCOC Annual Meeting that ACC s interpretation of the Substantive Change Policy was not up to date with the current interpretation of the policy. For example, ACC was still operating, as were other Texas community colleges, under the old interpretations that the College was approved to offer any programs at the associate degree or certificate levels. Also, for locations, ACC understood that the 25% and 50% thresholds were for programs offered at that location, not anywhere in the College. To better understand and clarify the expectations of the Substantive Change Policy, ACC staff attended a Substantive Change Policy workshop at Del Mar Community College in Corpus Christi, Texas in March Based on the information obtained at the workshop, an audit was conducted of all locations and programs since ACC s last Special Committee on Reaffirmation visit in September 2004 to ensure compliance with the policy. This comprehensive audit resulted in enhanced internal processes to ensure compliance with the Substantive Change Policy. The procedures, which are designed to identify substantive changes in programs and locations, are described in Attachment 1: Processes to Prevent Noncompliance. Several of these processes were initially identified in the Round Rock Higher Education Center Monitoring Report (submitted September 4, 2009) and a follow-up letter of clarification (submitted April 29, 2009). The purpose of this letter is to share the results of this audit that identified potential unreported substantive changes related to (1) off-campus locations where ACC offers coursework, (2) the addition of new programs to the curriculum, and (3) the closing of existing programs. For this audit, all locations where ACC offered coursework since September 2004 were examined. The factors considered when determining the locations to be reported to SACS are described in Attachment 2: Procedures for Identifying Unreported Off-Site Teaching Locations. This audit identified the following locations, which are primarily high schools where dual credit courses are offered:

2 Dr. Belle S. Wheelan July 5, 2011 Page 2 15 off-campus teaching locations that should have been reported under Procedure One: Substantive Changes Requiring Notification and Approval Prior to Implementation; and 12 off-campus teaching locations that should have been reported under Procedure Two: Substantive Changes Requiring Only Notification Prior to Implementation. ACC s curriculum was also examined beginning with ACC s Catalog. In determining compliance with the Procedure One Expansions at the Current Degree Level with Significant Departure from Current Programs Substantive Change section of the Substantive Change Policy, the term, significant departure, presented a problem in that it was not clearly defined. To address this ambiguity, ACC defined significant departure as follows: To constitute a Procedure One Expansions at the Current Degree Level with Significant Departure from Current Programs Substantive Change the following condition must be met: The minimum number of semester credit hours required for the award includes at least 25% of semester credit hours from courses not previously offered at Austin Community College, as indicated by the College s most recent academic year catalog. If this condition is met, the new award must meet at least one of the following conditions: 1. The new award requires hiring faculty with credentials different from those listed on Austin Community College s current Faculty Qualifications Table. 2. The new award requires new/different facilities, learning resources, or library resources than are currently available. Without these resources the award could not be offered. Using this above definition, the audit identified seven new programs that were potential unreported substantive changes under Procedure One: Substantive Changes Requiring Notification and Approval Prior to Implementation. We are reporting these programs as substantive changes, but we respectfully request clarification of the term significant departure and confirmation of whether the definition used by ACC is appropriate. In addition, the audit identified 17 program closings with an internal teach-out protocol that should have been reported under Procedure Two: Substantive Changes Requiring Notification and Approval Prior to Implementation. In the event our analysis/criteria are correct, Austin Community College officially notifies SACS of these unreported Procedure One and Procedure Two Substantive Changes and submits the appropriate prospectuses or documentation, as required. Enclosed is a USB drive that includes: Procedure One: Substantive Changes Requiring Notification and Approval Prior to Implementation. o 15 prospectuses on unreported locations that offer at least 50% of an award o 7 prospectuses on new awards/programs ACC offers

3 Dr. Belle S. Wheelan July 5, 2011 Page 3 Procedure Two: Substantive Changes Requiring Notification and Approval Prior to Implementation. o 1 document identifying 12 locations that offer 25%-49% of an award and the awards offered at each location [Attachment 3: Unreported Locations Offering 25%-49% of an Award] o Notification of the closings of awards and the resulting actions [Attachment 4: Notification of Closing of Awards and the Resulting Actions] We request any directions or guidance you may wish to provide. We thank you for your assistance and look forward to working with you and your staff during the substantive change process. Cc: Dr. Jack Allen, Vice President, SACSCOC Soon Merz, Vice President, Effectiveness and Accountability

4 AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE NOTIFICATION OF CLOSED PROGRAMS AND RESULTING ACTIONS AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE S AWARD CLOSURE PROCEDURES When Austin Community College (ACC) faculty members identify the need to close an award typically resulting from assessment of student needs, recommendations from an advisory board, or by mandate of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board four steps are taken to obtain approval of the award s closure. 1. The Department Chair completes a proposal that includes a justification for closing the award. This proposal is submitted to the Department s Instructional Dean and the Vice President of Instruction for review and preliminary approval. 2. The signed award closure proposal is submitted it to the Instructional Support Office. 3. The Instructional Support Services Office reviews the proposal for completeness. If complete, the proposal is put on the agenda for the upcoming Curriculum and Programs Committee meeting. The Committee is scheduled to meet on a monthly basis. 4. The Department Chair, or his/her representative, presents the proposal to the Curriculum and Programs Committee. The Committee discusses the proposal s: a. rationale; b. advantages and disadvantages; c. potential impact on other programs and courses; and d. potential impact on ACC students. The Committee votes on approval of the award s closure based on this information. Page 1

5 AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE NOTIFICATION OF CLOSED PROGRAMS AND RESULTING ACTIONS AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE S INTERNAL TEACH-OUT PROTOCOL Upon the Curriculum and Program s Committee s approval of an award s closure, the following six steps are taken to sunset an award. 1. Enrollment of new students in the award is suspended. 2. Paperwork notifying the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board of the award s closure is submitted for approval. 3. The date of the award s complete deactivation is determined. ACC policy is to allow students five years to complete the award. 4. The Department receives a list of students currently enrolled in the award. These students are then advised of: a. the award s closure; b. the award s teach-out date; and c. the advantages and disadvantages of completing the award in the next five years or declaring a related award as their new major. 5. The Department is required to accommodate students who choose to complete the award if the Department also deactivates a course within the award. For example, a course may be offered as an independent study or a different course is substituted for a course within the award s original degree plan. 6. Other departments impacted by the award s deactivation are notified so that they can take appropriate steps to adjust their degree plans. The steps described above were taken with the 22 award closures reported below. None of the awards deactivated since Fall 2004 resulted in the closing of departments. Therefore, full-time faculty members teaching in these awards were reassigned to new classes if their classes were. Page 2

6 AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE NOTIFICATION OF CLOSED PROGRAMS AND RESULTING ACTIONS PROGRAMS CLOSED SINCE THE ACADEMIC YEAR Award Closed Department: Accounting AAS Accounting-Professional Accountant Department: Computer Information Technology AAS Computer Information Technology-Microcomputer Applications Support Specialization Department: Education Instruction AAT Education Instruction-EC-4 Grade Level, Early Child Specialization AAT Education Instruction-EC-4 and 8-12 Grade Levels Specialization Last Academic Year Offered Department: Electronics and Advanced Technologies AAS and Certificate Electronics and Advanced Technologies-Technician Specialization Impact on Courses No courses One course No courses Two courses Impact on Awards Courses remained in curriculum to support the existing: Advanced Technical Certificate Accounting-Professional Accounting Remaining courses reconfigured with other ACC courses to create: AAS Computer Information Technology-Microcomputer Applications, Applications AAS Computer Information Technology-Microcomputer Applications, User and Desktop Support Specialization Courses reconfigured to create as mandated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: AAT Education Instruction-EC-6 Grade Levels Specialization AAT Education Instruction-8-12 Grade Levels Specialization Remaining courses reconfigured with other ACC courses to create: AAS and Certificate Electronics and Advanced Technologies-Electronics Technician Specialization AAS and Certificate Electronics and Advanced Technologies-Power Technology Specialization Page 3