Accreditation Reaffirmed At Ohlone Community College

Fremont CA

03 March, 2022

9:00 AM

Description

Press release from Ohlone College: March 3, 2022 The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) has reaffirmed Ohlone Community College's accreditation. The Commission found that Ohlone Community College appropriately responded to compliance requirements related to the areas of distance education (DE) and the college meets the standards for accreditation. "On behalf of the Commission, we wish to express appreciation for the diligent work and thoughtful reflection that Ohlone College undertook to respond to these requirements. These efforts confirm that peer review can serve well the multiple constituents of higher education by both ensuring and encouraging institutional quality and effectiveness," stated ACCJC Interim President Drs. Cindy Miles and Chair Sonya Christian in a Jan. 27 letter to Ohlone Community College Superintendent/President Dr. Eric Bishop. "This is truly excellent news for the entire Ohlone College community as this decision is a testament that the college meets the high standards established by the Commission," said Anthony DiSalvo, Deputy Superintendent/Vice President, Academic Affairs. DiSalvo also expressed his appreciation to many faculty and staff, especially the College's eCampus Team led by Instructional Designer Mary Wilhelm-Chapin and Academic Affairs Executive Dean Andrew LaManque, and the Distance Education Committee led by Professor of Kinesiology, Health and Wellness Robin Kurotori. Ohlone Community College completed a regular evaluation by the ACCJC in March 2020 when a team of evaluators visited the campus to complete its evaluation of the college's performance on a set of accreditation standards. Prior to the visit, the Accreditation Steering Committee prepared an Institutional Self-evaluation Report. Soon after, Ohlone Community College received the ACCJC action letter pursuant to the accreditation site visit. The Commission acted to reaffirm the college's accreditation for 18 months and required the college to conduct a follow-up report which was due by Oct. 1, 2021, followed up by a peer review team visit on Oct. 18, 2021. The college was required to review and revise its existing processes and policies to ensure that faculty teaching online consistently provide regular and substantive interaction between students and faculty. The visit determined that Ohlone College had resolved deficiencies that were noted in the previous compliance requirements around the areas of distance education (DE). At its Jan. 12-14, 2022 meeting, ACCJC reaffirmed the college's accreditation for the remainder of the cycle based on the follow-up report, listing no additional compliance requirements for the college. In the ACCJC follow-up visit report, it states that "Ohlone College has implemented significant policy and evaluation changes to improve distance education" and "The college should be commended for the outstanding work that was undertaken to improve curriculum approval processes and the volume of workload it represented for faculty." It goes on to state that ACCJC "recognizes the incredible strides Ohlone College is making in DE policy development, curriculum review, professional development, and evaluation of online course sections." Professor of History and Faculty Senate President Dr. Kyle Livie added "this achievement recognizes not only the hard work of our remarkable eCampus team, but also the exceptional talents of our faculty and staff who provide life-changing opportunities for our students regardless of platform. Ohlone's eCampus offerings are second to none, driven by the remarkable talents of our faculty across all disciplines." Ohlone College is accredited through 2027. The college's next comprehensive accreditation report and site visit will begin in fall 2026 and conclude with a site visit in spring 2027. Read more at: ohlonecollegeaccreditingcommissionletter.pdf and ohlonecollegefollowupvisitreport.pdf. This press release was produced by Ohlone College. The views expressed here are the author's own.