Building momentum for a great year

It’s always good to end a year on a high note, and Bloomsburg University did just that in 2014 with several fundamental accomplishments in addition to conferring more than 2,000 degrees.

Just before the fall semester ended, we got word our College of Business had been reaccredited for the second time by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, known as AACSB International. Initially accredited in December 2004 and reaccredited in 2010, the College of Business is one of 716 business schools in 48 countries and territories — less than 5 percent of the world’s business programs — with AACSB accreditation.

A few weeks before, we received good news about another reaccreditation. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education accepted our Periodic Review Report and reaffirmed accreditation. Middle States is a voluntary, non-governmental, membership association dedicated to quality assurance and improvement through accreditation via peer evaluation. Its accreditation instills public confidence in institutional mission, goals, performance and resources through its rigorous accreditation standards and their enforcement.

Momentum continued into the New Year as BU was notified that we were honored with a Carnegie Classification for the first time. We were one of 240 U.S. colleges and universities awarded the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s 2015 Community Engagement Classification, which demonstrates an institutional commitment to volunteerism and community involvement. More than 350 colleges and universities have attained the designation.

Further illustrating our commitment to civic engagement, we were also named to the President’s Higher Education Honor Roll for Community Service for the fifth consecutive year. The honor roll recognizes institutions that achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes as they place students on a lifelong path of civic engagement and help solve community problems.

As we begin a new spring semester, I look forward to celebrating many more accomplishments – a few of which, I suspect, will be aided by Presidential Strategic Planning Grants. I recently approved grants through the Strategic Planning and Resource Council (SPARC) to the following six projects totaling $169,500:

• A real-time water quality monitoring station for Fishing Creek, Steve Rier
• A model program to attract quality STEM transfer students from community colleges, Toni Bell
• BU Institute for Liberal Arts: Educating for Life, Phase 1, James Brown
• Center for Leadership and Engagement, Ed Valovage
• Sports Leadership Academy, Stephanie Anderson and Susan Kocher
• Center for Visual and Performing Arts, Steve Clickard

We’re off to a great start in 2015!

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