Quality control is essential to providing excellent services in any business or industry. Colleges are no exception. Your Salem Community College is immersed in the latter stages of a very thorough quality assessment. The Middle States Commission for Higher Education (MSCHE), most often referenced as “Middle States,” is our quality assessor. Through the MSCHE, we undergo a three-part quality review process. This starts with the Middle States Self-Study. Over the course of the last two years, we have been using the Middle States protocols to reflect upon what we are as a learning institution, how we deliver our services, and our adherence to our mission. This is the most valuable aspect of the Middle States process, as the reflective practice provides the basis for continuous improvement. Simply put, what can we do to be better tomorrow than we are doing today?

A second stage of “Middle States” is the visitation by a team of our peers from around the Middle States region (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, D.C. and Puerto Rico). The week of March 31st, this team of seven or eight collegiate peers will fundamentally be looking through our Self-Study and the evidence we provided in support of our self-assessments, making a “boots on the ground” judgment as to our successes and our areas in need of improvement. Based upon the work of the visiting committee, a recommendation is made to re-accredit, re-accredit with stipulations, or not grant accreditation. We are confident SCC is worthy of re-accreditation. There are improvements we seek to make, as reflected in our Strategic Plan, but we are delivering a quality education to our students.

The final stage of the process is where the Middle States Commission on Higher Education reviews the work of the visiting committee and makes the determination to either affirm or deny the re-accreditation recommendation. It is likely we will not hear their disposition until late June. Again, we are confident we will see a full re-accreditation.

Kudos to Vice President Ken Robell for guiding us through this Middle States process. Also, kudos to Assistant Dean of Institutional Research and Planning Marc Roy, and Samantha Brewer, Coordinator of Institutional Effectiveness for gathering and posting all the necessary evidence. If you have Middle States questions, please reach out to Vice President Robell.