A fond farewell
Chalk the walk See back page
VOLUME 12
ISSUE 9
See page 2
JUNE 2007
Campus appreciation
See page 8 and 9
Accrediting the College’s credit
SERVING THE STUDENTS OF PIERCE COLLEGE PUYALLUP
Sharon Coward Reporter
Photo by Cody Turk
Finally, the installation of After Image by Linda Beaumont was completed last week. This art, as with most things on the campus, will contribute to Pierce College Puyallup’s already aesthetically pleasing atmosphere.
On June 15, Pierce College will award this year’s graduating students with their hard-earned degrees and certificates. Were Pierce not an accredited institution, however, these awards would be nothing but sheets of paper. It is accreditation that gives Pierce College credibility in both the working world and the academic world, and for students this means that the degrees and certificates they obtain through Pierce will be considered valid when they transfer to a four-year university or use it to find employment. “(Accreditation) is important to students because it certifies that the degree (they) receive has integrity, (and) that the credits the students earn are transferable,” explains Debra Gilchrist, dean of libraries and media services and chair of one of the accreditation committees. Pierce is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), a group that falls under the Department of Education federal guidelines. Accreditation, once granted, should be renewed every ten years. This year Pierce is up for renewal, which requires the college to undergo an extensive self-study in preparation for the NWCCU accreditation committee’s three-day campus visit. “At a minimum, every ten years, colleges go through a full self-study to determine how well they’re doing,” explains Pierce College Puyallup President Tana Hasart. “That’s what the Pierce College district is doing right now.” “We study ourselves and produce a very
thick report, and then a team comes in to determine how accurate that report is, and whether the college actually meets the standards that have been defined by the commission,” explains Hasart. The different departments have been working on the self-study for the past two years now. “Every program and department in the district has engaged in a self-study process where we have examined how well we meet the commission’s standards, evaluated our strengths and challenges and developed a plan for action to improve,” says Gilchrist. Though it sounds simple, the self-study is actually a long process that involves a thorough analysis of each department’s operations, goals, instruction and other elements. “We analyzed what we think we’re doing well, we looked at all the statistics (and) all the data… we interviewed students, we do surveys, we look at all that data and then we (say) these are things we’re doing well, (and) these are the things we need to work on,” explains Reference/Instruction Librarian Christie Flynn. “It’s such a big thing; there’s so many things that you can look at. There’s so many big-picture things, (and) so many tiny details.” “It’s really analyzing all that data.” The college is given a set of guidelines by the Commission that details what the Commission wants to see the college doing. These guidelines are called the nine standards, and they range from Institutional Mission to Effectiveness to Students and Faculty and even Institutional Integrity and
From ghost town to student lounge Cody Turk Photo Editor
The Pierce College Puyallup Student Lounge, located near the Dining Commons in the College Center, was supposed to be a place where students could relax, hang out and play games. Unfortunately, if you were to see it prior to its mysterious closing, it would
be obvious that this function was not being fulfilled. Most of the time the student lounge was empty—the games left unplayed and the pool table abandoned. Save for the occasional student seeking a quiet place to study, the room was vacant. But that is all about to change. Student Programs is giving the student lounge an overhaul, with the hopes of
reviving it and turning it into a room students want to be in. Health and Wellness Coordinator Andy Monson shared what inspired them to revamp the student lounge, and some of the things that Student Programs is going to do to make it more attractive to students. “We wanted to make it a lot more comfortable. We went on a trip a couple
See Accreditation on page 14
of weeks ago to Spokane and into Idaho, and while we were there we looked at their student lounges and ours didn’t compare. So we started looking at ways to make it better,” he said. Some of their plans to improve the student lounge are to get several comfortable couches and chairs.
See Lounge on page 7