Una Welcomes Public To Help Develop University Quality Enhancement Plan

Sep. 11, 2009

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, Ala. - The University of North Alabama is inviting public support and input as it prepares for its 2012 reaffirmation visit from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). UNA is accredited by SACS to award bachelor's, master's and education specialist degrees.

To continue their accreditation, SACS-accredited institutions go through a reaffirmation process every 10 years. UNA's accreditation was last reaffirmed in 2001. Part of the new parameters SACS has set out for universities being reaffirmed is that they develop a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). A 2007 SACS publication describes the QEP: "By definition, the QEP describes a carefully designed course of action that addresses a well-defined and focused topic or issue related to enhancing student learning." Once the QEP is implemented, it will be a five-year program at the university. The goal of the program at UNA will be to enhance specific skills and competencies of students in order to produce a more prepared graduate. Examples of enhancement programs at other universities include: "Writing Realized: Developing Writing Literacies in a Technological Age" - Albany State University, Albany, Ga. "Providing a Campus Life that Develops Leaders" - Concordia University Texas, Austin, Texas "Expanding Student Horizons through Real World Connections" - Francis Marion University, Florence, S.C. UNA is encouraging students, faculty, staff, alumni, employers and the community to help in the development of the university's QEP by taking a 14-question survey at www.una.edu/qep.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.