October 15, 2015 | SharkAdmin The site team from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – Commission on Colleges was more than impressed with the competence and quality of teaching and support services provided by NVC. And of course they were wowed by the beauty of our college. The college facilities looked fantastic and well maintained. From those who washed windows, shampooed carpets, painted railings, stained signs, power-washed, added mulch and mowed, to those who drove the team to the hotel from the airport and dinner to the college and back again, each of you contributed greatly to the success of the 10-year reaffirmation. In addition, those staff and students who served as guides for our guests you helped us to live up to our reputation as a welcoming college. To the Hospitality Team, Dr. Akin, chair of the On-Site team and Dr. Hoefer, SACSCOC vice president noted that NVC has set a new level of excellence in hosting a team. Dr. Hoefer, added that he has not seen our equal and that in the future, everyone will be comparing themselves to Northwest Vista College. The team was also extremely complimentary of our faculty, staff and our students who participated in the team interviews. Dr. Akin said that she would like to take our students back to Kentucky with her. A big thank you to Denise Tolan for providing great leadership to our well-developed QEP that the team loved. The team expressed their appreciation of our decision to focus on Information Literacy and stated the topic is timely and critical to student learning and success. We’ve learned a lot from the experience and have come a long way from the time that the SACSCOC compliance report readers identified 22 areas of non-compliance. In the exit session with the team they identified minor infractions in 3.5.3 – Undergraduate Program Requirements and 3.7.1 Faculty Competence (credentials) that we will need to address when we receive the official On-Site Committee Feedback Report. We will receive the report in a few weeks and we have about five months to respond. The information we have at this time is quite limited however, they indicated that the issues will be easy to rectify. To the numerous writers, editors and collectors of documentation which were utilized in the Compliance Certification, Focused Report and the QEP, thank you for your months of long hours and hard work. A very special thank you to NVC Student Success Vice President Debi Gaitan, for her leadership in coordinating our efforts in being institutionally “ready” for the visit. To everyone, your commitment to this college is recognized, appreciated and resulted in a very positive reaffirmation visit. We have much to celebrate and be proud of in being a part of this great college.