Bucks County Community College MSCHE Self-Study 2022

On Thursday, February 27^th, Dr. Hilda Colón Plumey, our Middle States Commission for Higher Education (MSCHE) Self-Study liaison, will be visiting the campus. Her visit is an opportunity for her to get to know Bucks County Community College, and it’s an opportunity for the college community to learn more about the MSCHE and the accreditation process. 

Please join in her open forum from 12:30pm – 2:00pm in Tyler 142 or via BlueJeans https://bluejeans.com/596926285. If you cannot make the start of the open forum, please do attend as you can. Dr. Colón is aware of scheduling difficulties. Also, the open forum will be recorded and shared.  

As mentioned in the President’s in-service address, the Middle States 2022 Steering Committee and Working Groups have been finalized. Team membership information available at https://bit.ly/37HetJ3. Together, they form a team dedicated to collecting evidence (procedure, policy, data, graphs, charts, narratives, etc.) to review and analyze in this self-study process. You may hear from members of the team this semester and onward as they undertake this grand task! Also, comments and questions on the self-study process are encouraged. Participate by completing the web form at https://www.bucks.edu/middlestates. (edited) 

Also, this is an exciting month in the timeline of our Middle States Self-Study! In early February, our Middle States Working Groups receive training and guidance on the process of responding to their assigned standard. Review the standards of accreditation and requirements of affiliation at https://www.msche.org/standards/.

Working Groups will be contacting people as needed in order to gather information to include in their response to the criteria of the standards. To familiarize yourself with the purpose of the working groups, here’s the Charge for Middle States Self-Study Working Groups: 

The purpose of the working groups is to evaluate the College through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation by determining to what extent the institution meets the standard and corresponding requirements of affiliation assigned to the group. In addition, each group demonstrates the relationship between the standard, the relevant institutional priorities (Our Learners of Tomorrow, Our Promise, and Our Programs from our 2019-2025 Strategic Plan), and the College’s mission. To conduct this evaluation, each Working Group, led by at least one member of the Steering Committee, will upload relevant data, processes and procedures to an evidence inventory, analyze the evidence to identify lines of inquiry, areas of strength, and opportunities for innovation and improvement. Throughout this process of information gathering and analysis, the Working Group shall collaborate with the Steering Committee, college liaisons, and the college community as appropriate, to fulfill needs for documentation and/or discussion as relevant to the criteria of the standard and corresponding requirements of affiliation. The Working Group shall submit a final report, in outline form, summarizing their findings. 

Also happening this month is our non-evaluative, self-study preparation visit from our Middle States Self-Study liaison, Dr. Hilda Colon Plumey. Save the date for this event! It will be Thursday, February 27, 2020. Detailed information for the day, including time and access to an open forum with Dr. Colon Plumey, forthcoming.

As this month officially kicks-off the self-study process, so does our campaign for community wide participation in the process. We are collecting feedback via email, webform and open forums. Email our Middle States Self-Study Chair Kelly.Kelleway@bucks.edu fill-out the feedback form at https://www.bucks.edu/discover/accreditations/middlestates/ and spring semester forum dates will be posted in the upcoming months.

December 2019

Middle States Minute

Check in monthly for an update regarding our upcoming Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation self-study report and evaluation team visit.

Wrapping-up fall 2019 efforts, and preparing for spring 2020

View a recording of the FA ’19 Middle States Roadshow at https://bucks.techsmithrelay.com/09m2. In this recorded presentation, learn about the Middle States Self-Study process, our progress and upcoming activities. Our audience asked great questions! Watch, or fast forward, to the end of the recording for the question and answer session. 

On December 12th, our Working Groups and Steering Committee will participate in a meet-and-greet to get to know their teammates, and to learn about the next steps in our self-study process. Working Groups will more formally meet at the start of the spring 2019.

President Shanblatt and self-study Chair and Vice Provost Kelly Kelleway, and self-study Co-Chair and Associate Professor Jackie Burger, had a phone meeting with our Middle States Commission for Higher Education liaison, Dr. Colon, to share with her our efforts underway on our self-study process. Soon, we should have a date for her visit to our campus during spring 2020. Her visit is non-evaluative and gives her the opportunity to get to know not only those involved in the self-study process but also the entire campus community. More information to come in our January Middle States Minute. 

Have a question or comment about our self-study process? Post it to our feedback form at https://www.bucks.edu/discover/accreditations/middlestates/. Responses remain anonymous unless you choose to provide your name and contact information.