UNA is urging its students and faculty to wake up and be proactive about assisting in the development of a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) that could improve education for students in the years to come.

Although UNA was last accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2002, the university is up for its 10-year SACS reaffirmation review in 2012.

According to Dr. Phil Bridgmon, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and leader of the QEP team, UNA’s primary goals for SACS reaffirmation are to deliver adequate support for student success and ensure students are research literate and can generate quality literature through information gathering and analyzing within their career fields.

The QEP development process is vital to UNA because it allows the university to examine its support methods and the way education is being structured. Celia Reynolds, SACS reaffirmation director at UNA, said the QEP planning team is seeking input from students, faculty, alumni and local businesses to identify areas that could be improved.

“We are very sincere about student input and involvement,” Bridgmon said. “UNA has taken reaffirmation very seriously. Getting involved gives students an insight into how organizations work and heightens their awareness of the external obligations and environments the university tends to. It helps them learn decision making and critical analysis.”

The renewal of UNA’s SACS accreditation is a process that takes several years to complete. The QEP team is currently forming a compliance certification report, which will be due in September and will be reviewed by an off-site SACS committee in November.

UNA will also submit their official QEP, a blueprint that focuses on UNA’s goals for improving research literacy, six weeks prior to the on-campus SACS visit, which will occur Feb. 28-March 1 of 2012.

QEP student representative Caleb Banks is enthusiastic about getting more students on board with the development process.

“This is something that will affect every single person on campus, including every department and major,” he said. “Everyone has to be on board for this to happen and we have to prove to SACS that UNA is still moving forward and that we are not a stagnant being. It is time to start paying attention.”

Reynolds hopes more students and faculty members will get involved to improve the quality of education for students, which would lead to more job opportunities in the future. The QEP team has also sought opinion from UNA alumni and local employers in seeing how UNA can better prepare its students to serve in society.

For more information about QEP, contact Dr. Phil Bridgmon at 256-765-4192 or e-mail [email protected].