By Steve Holt, Staff Writer

In one month, a five-year accreditation process in the College of Business Administration will end when a site team from the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) visits ACU.

From Oct. 5-8, three individuals from the international accrediting association will observe all aspects of COBA, interviewing students, faculty and administration.

On the morning of Oct. 8, the three-person team will deliver its recommendation of whether or not COBA would receive accreditation.

Dr. Rick Lytle, the college’s dean, said accreditation would be huge for COBA.

“This is the oldest accrediting body, the most prestigious, and it’s global,” Lytle said. “It’s the oldest business accrediting body in the world. Only about 10 percent of higher education institutions have this mark.”

President Royce Money said this accreditation would be a recognition by external sources of the high quality of the business program.

“We believe we are good, but to have an external team come in is something else,” Money said.

The process of accreditation began in December 1998, when COBA formulated a strategic five-year plan to become accredited. During that time, Lytle said the college eliminated and restructured several majors, hired 15 full-time faculty, created a Career Development Center for job placement and internships and created a system by which alumni can assess the college, among other improvements.

Jozell Brister, associate professor of economics, has served as director of accreditation for the process, and she said the changes in the college are noticeable.

“It has been a dream for the college for a long time, and a lot of things have had to happen,” said Brister, who joined the ACU faculty in 1979. “A lot of improvement has taken place. We’ve been trying run a better shop.”

Amanda Spencer, senior accounting major from Marble Falls, said one of the most noticeable changes has been the addition of new professors.

“It gives us more diversity,” Spencer said. “They not only have the academic experience, but real world experience. You don’t just get the textbook stuff, but they can say, ‘When I worked here…'”

In Good Company

COBA has been a member of the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) for over 10 years, but if selected for accreditation in October, ACU would join the 10 percent of colleges and universities in the United States with the AACSB accreditation. In fact, Pepperdine University is the only Church of Christ university with this accreditation, but Lytle said its focus is mostly in graduate studies. ACU would also be just the second member Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) to achieve the prestigious accreditation.

Lytle said this distinction from other universities and colleges comes from one main factor.

“Quality of faculty,” Lytle said. “The quality of people we have from a professional standpoint is superior to any school of our size-I’ll put it up against anybody.”

While some other universities offer more programs for business majors, many of them only have one faculty member for each major offered, Lytle said.

“The fundamentals of the brilliance of business are marketing, management, finance and accounting,” he said. “We’re going to be the best undergraduate in those areas that we can. We’ve built faculty around each of those programs.”

Brister said the distinction would likely reinforce what people are already saying about the college.

“I like to say that AACSB just validates what we’ve been saying about ourselves all along,” she said. “It’s getting to the point that it’s almost essential if you’re going to compete for the students and faculty. It’ll mean we’re top notch.”

How COBA Got Here

In December 1998, COBA submitted a strategic plan of the next five years to the AACSB, identifying areas in which it wanted to improve to be considered for accreditation. After many positive changes over the last five years, the college assessed its state now compared to 1998, and sent a self-evaluation to the agency in June.

“We’re much better today than we were five years ago,” Lytle said.

In August, COBA received acknowledgement from AACSB that the self-evaluation had been received, along with 6 1/2 pages of questions and concerns based on that assessment. Lytle said the letter included questions about computer labs, job placement data for graduates and whether or not joint majors with other departments would be counted a part of COBA in the accreditation process. Lytle decided these peripheral majors, such as integrated marketing communication, agribusiness, industrial technology, art marketing and the master’s program in human resource development operation, would not be included in the AACSB assessment Oct. 5-8.

“We’ve trimmed the borders. We’ve said they use some of our programs, but I’m not the dean over those programs. My faculty aren’t over those programs,” Lytle said. “We’re working through that. It’s a major concern of theirs, but we’re going to address that. I feel comfortable about that.”

Cost

Accreditation is an expensive endeavor. In fact, a large chunk of the university’s Centennial Campaign to raise $150 million by 2006 will be to pay for COBA’s improvements and accreditation, Lytle said. He said the college is in the middle of a $37 million endowment campaign because one of the goals for accreditation was not to use any of the university’s budget.

“It’s going extremely well,” Lytle said. “I marvel, because anytime you set out a five-year plan, it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen two months from now. We have been under budget all along, not impacted the university’s budget and raised all the money we needed.”

He said the administration has been instrumental throughout the entire process.

“Without the support of Dr. Money and Dr. VanRheenan, we wouldn’t be here today, Lytle said.

Some on campus, Lytle said, have questioned the necessity of accrediting COBA at this time in ACU’s history, often bringing it to the administration.

“They have been avid supporters, and they have taken some heat,” Lytle said. “This is a time strategically for the university for the college of business to get some emphasis to be where we need to be.”

He added that over the last 23 years, 22 percent of ACU’s graduates have been from COBA. Those graduates have accounted for over 60 percent of the university’s total gifts during that time, Lytle said.

“For that reason, it’s important to have a really strong business program,” he said.

Students Benefit

But the ones who look to benefit the most from COBA’s accreditation are the students, Brister said.

“It means that they are graduating from a top quality business school,” she said. “This agency is really tough, and they accredit the premier business schools in the country. So when you go out there to get a job or apply for graduate school, to say that your school was a AACSB school carries a lot of weight.”

Even some students see the perks.

“When companies look at the college of business, they will see that accreditation, and it will look better when we’re trying to get jobs,” Spencer said.

When the site team makes its recommendation to Money, it could say one of four things: that COBA receives full accreditation, accreditation with concerns, it is deferred for one year because of a serious finding by the team, or that it is denied accreditation. Brister said hardly any universities ACU’s size receive full accreditation, so she expects COBA to be given accreditation with concerns. This only means that the college receives accreditation, but is closely examined for a period of time to ensure that it fixes any problems the site team finds.

We realize that there will be one of two reactions on Oct. 8-sighs of great exaltation and joy, or a lot of sighs of wailing,” Lytle said, laughing. “You can’t do anything without other people-faculty, constituents, alumni, administration, donors and staff pulling together. By God’s grace we’re here.”