The Clackamas print., April 24, 1996, Page 3, Image 3

The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, April 24,1996
Célébration
Accreditation is over
o
It’s party time
(Right)
Robin
Robinson
and friend
dance to
the sounds
of the
Accreditation
Blues
Brothers.
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Clackamas given high praise in accreditation
EXIT from page 1
She suggested increasing the fre­
quency of student evaluations of
limitation measure.
instructors.
She praised the college
Tsunoda advised that the col­
foundation’s “Friends and Fund- lege should keep reliable data on
raising” efforts as well as their ef­ students who transfer to four-year
forts to enhance community per­ colleges or enter the work-place
ceptions of the college.
after graduating from CCC. She
Tsunoda also noted the said efforts are being made now,
college’s community partnerships but they appear “haphazard” and
with business, senior citizens, the need to be pulled together.
school district and the general citi­
She advocated increasing the
zenry.
U----------------------------- relevance,
The
consistency
/t i/i/as one of the
school’s schol­
and assess­
arship and re­
ment of infor­
most gratifying set
search efforts
of recommendations mation at
also drew ac­
both the pro­
and commendations gram and the
claim. Both the
liberal arts and
institutional
i’ve ever seen... In
technical fields
level so that
our own Clackamas
were lauded for
the
two
way, we even
the quantity
complement
and quality of
and
enjoyed the
published
strengthen
accreditation (visit)
works.
each other.
-Dian Connet
The col­
Tsunoda
lege library, the Dean of Instructional Services
suggested
campus com­ _______D that the li­
munications
brary
de­
network, the physical plant and the velop and implement a plan to in­
grounds maintenance and land­ crease student use and enhance
scaping departments also received print and electronic resources as
commendations.
well as upgrading book collections
“You’re almost perfect,” that support instructional pro­
Tsunoda said before itemizing a grams.
much shorter list of recommenda­
Regarding student services,
tions.
she said new and enhanced infor­
She recommended a review mation services were needed. She
of the faculty-evaluation process advised that the staff should up­
and the development of criteria to grade their technology expertise
measure instructors’ effectiveness. and she said the faculty advising
committee should be reestab-
lished.
Tsunoda noted that 45 per
cent of the faculty and administra­
tion will retire in five years and
the college needs to plan for that.
“You’ve got a good thing go­
ing here. Make sure you maintain
that,” she said, referring to the re­
tirement figures.
Tsunoda then concluded her
recommendations and added one
last commendation in the form of
an anonymous poem from a com­
mittee person: “Our most vivid
commendation goes to Joan Ryan
who satisfied our cryin’,” referring
to the four “goody bags” a day pro­
vided to committee members.
President Keyser said after
the exit interview that he was, ”...
very satisfied with the report. I’m
delighted, almost euphoric about
the commendations.
And the recommenda­
tions will help us be a
better college.” He said
that based on his past
experience with exit in­
terviews, this report
was much heavier on
the commendation side
and much lighter on the
recommendation side
than most other reports
he has witnessed.
“I feel very confi­
dent,” Associate Dean
of Instructional Ser­
vices Dian Connett
said. “It was one of the
most gratifying set of
recommendations and commenda­
tions I’ve ever seen... In our own
Clackamas way, we even enjoyed
the accreditation (visit).”
Dan McCue, the college’s
Community Relations Specialist,
got an early inkling of committee
members’ impressions of CCC’s
preparation for and concern about
the accreditation review during the
members’ two days of reviewing
the college. McCue chauffeured
them from the Monarch Hotel in
Sunnyside to the college each day,
and overheard one committee
member chuckling about how ner­
vous the staff of one department
was.
‘“They were all fidgety, pac­
ing around, well dressed’” McCue
recalled him saying. He said an­
other member replied that was bet­
ter than a lot of colleges he had
been to, where the staff didn’t care
and perhaps didn’t even know why
they were there.
But it was Tsunoda that left
the biggest clues about the
committee’s impression of CCC’s
efforts when she concluded the
exit interview with a quote:
“‘Community is to be defined not
only as a region to be served, but
as an environment to be created.’
You really have made those words
come alive.”
(Left)
Instructor
Bob Misely
entertains the
worry-free
staff and
faculty after
the
Accreditation
Exit Interview.
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(Left) Staff
members look
over materials
created by
CCC faculty.
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Page Design by Amy Ku'uipo Hanson & Pamela Sirianni
Artwork by Amyku’uipo Hanson
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(Right) Becky
Carnahan
leads Suzy
Alexander,
Jeani Preble,
Susanna
Lundgren and
Sara Simmons
In a conga
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