Welcome
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools—Commission on Colleges (SACS—COC) Reaffirmation 2010
UTSA students, faculty, staff and friends,
I encourage you to provide your support for our upcoming reaccreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS COC). A university’s accreditation is critical to its reputation and success and UTSA is accredited by SACS COC to award bachelor’s, 
master’s and doctoral degrees.
Accreditation is not something a university can take for granted because it is not a one-time accomplishment. Every ten years, a university must seek the reaffirmation of its accredited status and meet demanding criteria established by SACS COC and the U.S. Department of Education. UTSA is currently engaged in preparing for reaffirmation effective December 2010. I have been working with Sandy Welch and Gerry Dizinno in the Office of the Vice Provost for Accountability and Institutional Effectiveness to review the work that needs to be done to prepare for reaffirmation of accreditation during the 2009-2010 academic year.
The SACS COC reaccreditation process involves two components – preparation of the Compliance Certification Report and development of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). To document our compliance status, UTSA must gather data on 12 core requirements, 53 comprehensive standards and 8 Federal requirements and then write the report. Belinda Flores, Faculty Fellow working with the office of Vice Provost for Accountability and Institutional Effectiveness, is coordinating these efforts.
The QEP is a new requirement described as a “carefully designed and focused course of action that addresses one or more critical issues related to enhancing student learning.” The first milestone of the QEP development process was met with the submission of the pre-proposals from which three finalists were selected for further development. Please refer to the QEP News web page for additional details.
Many of us will have responsibility for our SACS COC reaffirmation in the days ahead. If you are called upon to help, I encourage you to do so and want to express my appreciation for your cooperation in advance. This is one of the most important tasks UTSA will undertake in the next two years.
Sincerely,
Ricardo Romo
President
The University of Texas at San Antonio