UNM officials speak up on relevance of accreditation

by Arthur Simoni

Daily Lobo

With the recent controversy over the UNM Communication and Journalism Department losing its accreditation that it had held for more than 50 years, accreditation has become a concern among many departments across campus.

The University of New Mexico currently holds institutional accreditation from the North Central Association accrediting body. Within the institution 38 programs and departments are accredited by professional accrediting agencies.

Dean of Arts and Sciences Reed Dasenbrock said that accreditation to a department or program is necessary in some departments, while in others it not as important, and in some cases, such as the English Department, accrediting bodies do not exist.

"If the University as an institution didn't have accreditation, it would be severe," Dasenbrock said. "Program accreditation depends on the discipline. In certain programs accreditation is a must."

He said that most professional departments need accreditation simply because job employers look specifically for that when hiring.

Howard L. Smith, dean of the Anderson Schools of Management, said that accreditation is a very significant issue.

"It is extremely important for any university," Smith said. "Quality in education sells. Accreditation is a stamp of approval for your program. Students need to understand how much is invested in achieving and maintaining accreditation."

Peter Winograd, director of the Center of Teacher Education at UNM, said accreditation within the College of Education is essential.

"It is crucial for our department to keep accreditation," Winograd said. "One reason being that we are very interested in teacher quality. Another reason is that in New Mexico, all teacher preparatory programs require accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. It is also an issue of national stature."

Winograd said that accreditation is definitely an important issue when students decide whether to enroll in the College of Education.

Kathryn Vogel, chairwoman of the Biology Department, said that accreditation in her department is not an issue.

"There is simply not an accrediting agency for biology departments," Vogel said. "Accreditation is usually associated with professional certification. In our department, we think our quality is extremely high and we review and evaluate our quality internally."

Dasenbrock said he will meet today with communication and journalism faculty to explore what options the department has.

"I think the students have a right to be concerned," Dasenbrock said. "Whether they seek reaccreditations or not depends upon the input we receive."