FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 16, 2011

MUW’s QEP process will be a campus-wide effort

By Jill D. O’Bryant

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Mississippi University for Women plans to involve the entire campus community in the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) process, a core Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC) requirement that aims to transform student learning.

The QEP is a major part of the institutional reaccreditation process by SACSCOC, the regional accrediting association of which MUW is a member.

SACSCOC expects the QEP to have a “transformative” impact on the institution in terms of student “knowledge, skills, behaviors and/or values.” The QEP should be regarded as an opportunity to put in place a plan that will have a major impact on student learning and student academic success.

The QEP Team, which consists of MUW faculty, staff and students, met recently and campus emails have gone out providing information about the initial proposal process.

“The QEP must involve the entire campus community: faculty, staff and students,” said Dr. Tom Richardson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, in a recent email to the campus. “Everyone will have an opportunity to be involved in the process, from initial suggestions for a topic to the development of the full plan. Participation is essential for a successful QEP and, ultimately, to institutional reaccreditation.”

There is incentive for submitting ideas for the QEP. Authors of the winning final  proposal will receive an award of $2,500 along with seeing university-wide implementation of their QEP plan. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 13.

“Ultimately, selected project ideas will require fuller proposals, but in the initial stage the MUW QEP committee seeks a simple summary of your best ideas as to how to improve student learning,” the online proposal description states. “All QEP topics should be broad-based in that they engage the full university community and should be focused on student learning, and/or the student environment, and/or the university mission.”

The QEP Team will welcome all ideas, “whether orthodox or outside the box,” and proposals will need to include a summary with examples of how broad-based, university participation might be achieved and how the topic might be assessed for effectiveness. Proposals also should state the impact on student learning.

The campus was given links to SACSCOC resources that will provide more information about the requirement and examples of QEPs from other institutions. QEP campus resources are being developed and will include a website and Facebook page.