It's Smooth Sailing for the Mock Site Visit

If practice makes perfect, then the School of Public Health will be well prepared for the accreditation visit slated for October. That's especially true considering the School achieved a confidence-building review from last week's mock site visit.

The accreditation process measures an educational institution against 27 criteria outlined by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) to determine its accountability and quality. On Monday and Tuesday, the mock site visitors determined that, had the visit been an actual accreditation analysis, SPH would have measured up well.

Of the 27 criteria, SPH met the highest mark possible on 25, and the remaining two were met with commentary.

Benefits of Accreditation

It's quite the process to determine whether or not an institution abides by CEPH criteria, but the rigor doesn't come without its rewards.

The seal of approval from CEPH can attract the cream of the crop in students, explains Dean Gold. "Students generally would be in a more competitive position in the job market and appreciate getting a degree from an accredited school," he says.

He adds that accredited schools tend to attract and retain the best faculty, and the schools become eligible to compete for more funding.

All of the graduate programs and the Couple and Family Therapy degree are already accredited, but earning the title for the School as a whole will increase its status. "School-wide accreditation adds additional cache to the entire school and all of its programs," says Dean Gold.

The Opportunity of a Practice Round

These benefits are worth preparing for.

After SPH faculty members conducted a two-year self study which produced a 200-page analysis of the School, the Dean invited two experienced accreditors to carry out the mock visit as if it were an actual visit on behalf of CEPH. Acting as the chair of the visiting team was Mr. Henry Montes of JH Consulting and the outreach, training and technical assistance director of Telecommunications Management Network, assisted by Dr. Robert Valdez of the University of New Mexico

"The goal of the mock accreditation site visit was to help the School participants in the site visit have the opportunity to experience what the real site visit will be like and to suggest ways to strengthen the self study and participant involvement," says Montes.

"All criteria should be met to be an accredited program or school. However, probationary accreditations are not unheard of in the past, especially for renewals," explains Valdez.

Taking Stock with a Mock

For a day and a half, Valdez and Montes led several sessions in the Dean's conference room asking questions of faculty, staff, students, community members and alumni that pertained to the school mission, course competencies, and other topics. Had it been an actual site visit, the information gathered by Valdez and Montes would have been presented to CEPH council of volunteer professionals appointed by the American Public Health Association and the Association of Schools of Public Health, as explained by Montes. From there, the council would have then used that information to determine the School's accreditation status.

In addition to gaining confidence, the faculty, staff and students involved with the mock also gained valuable training for October's visit. Many of the questions asked by Montes and Dr. Valdez will also be asked during the actual accreditation visit. Further, they learned how the self-study document can be revised and how to set up the visit agenda.

Students Say All Went Well

Students involved in the process gained valuable experience as well, particularly the student ambassadors whose logistical responsibilities included guarding the conference room door, distributing names tags, making sure equipment was available and working, and that the accreditors always had coffee and water. These students will be ambassadors for the actual accreditation as well.

One of them, Paiker Sayed, says that she was a little nervous for the job at first, but after preparing with Dr. Laura Wilson, the mock visit “went pretty smoothly with no major hiccups.

"However, what surprised me was that no matter how much rethinking was done, when the visit was in session we invariably ended up finding how we could have planned some of the logistics better." Paiker put together a list of ideas to make sure the actual visit runs even better.

Another student ambassador, Ginelle Jurlano, took part in the student lunch with Montes and Dr. Valdez on Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to determine the students' evaluation of the school.

"I think the student lunch with the visitors overall went very well. It seemed a little intimidating at first, but the mock site visitors were very friendly," said Ginelle.

"As said in the SPH assembly (Tuesday afternoon), the site visitors are not like police officers who are looking for something wrong," continues Ginelle, and offers advice to students for the real visit in October: "They want the School to be accredited. So don't be intimidated, and be yourself."