The unit has been found out of compliance on Standard 3; Diversity and Inconclusiveness and Standard 9; Assessment of Learning Outcomes.

The department is in the site- visit stage, when members of the accreditation team visit campus and talk to students.

Maria Marron, journalism department chairwoman, has been coordinating the reaccreditation.

“We have to be very diligent about it all the time,” she said.

Marron also said the department is “ever mindful of our curriculum” and is continuing to be mindful of both the university’s and the accreditation counsel’s norms and standards.

The Accreditation Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is responsible for accrediting the university. The journalism department has been accredited since 1996, and is up for reaccrediation every six years. By May 2009, a final decision on reaccreditation will be reached.

The new Caponigro Multimedia Lab located on the fourth floor of Moore Hall might help, but will not make a significant difference about whether the program is accredited, Marron said. The lab was added this fall and was funded by CMU Board of Trustees Chairman Jeff Caponigro, who is the chief executive officer of Caponigro Public Relations, Inc.

Accreditation says a lot about the department, Marron said.

“It says that the department has met certain standards set by the accreditation counsel,” she said.

Timothy Boudreau, associate journalism professor, said he feels the accreditation is an important recruiting tool, more for parents than students.

“It holds us to certain standards and encourages us to strive for and to maintain high standards for our department,” he said.

Chris Schanz, Saginaw junior, said he only looked into accredited journalism programs when applying to colleges.

“I figured since CMU has the accreditation there must be something good about their journalism program,” he said.

CMU and Michigan State University are the accredited programs in Michigan, and only 111 exist in the country.

“It’s a public relations tool as much as anything else,” Marron said.

Schanz agreed that the accredidation would be a good tool to bring students to CMU.

“It brings people from Michigan who want to pursue journalism to either one of the schools,” he said.

Marron said accreditation restricts the number of credit hours per major a student can take. Accredited institutions allow students to take only 39 journalism credits. This allows students little flexibility when taking both electives and internships, she said.

“When all is said and done, I would prefer to be with an accredited institution,” Boudreau said.

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The Residential College of Health Professions is sponsoring Dr. Bessheen Baker when she visits campus at 8 p.m. today in Anspach Hall Room 161 for her talk “Well Body, Well Earth: Naturopathy and Organics.”

Baker will discuss a more natural approach to medicine.

“(The residential college has) been trying to do this every year,” said Nick DeKorver, a Comstock Park junior helping to organize the event.

DeKorver is excited to see Baker.

“It’s going to be really interesting and pretty cool,” he said.

The residential college is bringing Baker to campus so people can see a different approach to medicine, DeKorver said.

“It’s interesting to get a different view on things . (we’re) getting news out about other treatments about health,” he said.

Getting the word out also is important to Baker, said Susanne Finch, a certified natural health therapist speaking on Baker’s behalf.

“Its very nice to expose the youth and other people to other ways other than the mainstream of thinking,” she said.

DeKorver stressed the importance of knowing all the approaches to medicine and constantly having something new to try.

Finch said Baker will also talk about how to decrease a carbon footprint and the difference between holistic and allopathic medicines.

“She will also talk about being part of a global community,” Finch said.

The talk is geared toward everyone, not just those in the medical field, DeKorver said.

“We’re trying to make it a community event.”

DeKorver encourages all who are interested to come.

“Everybody that goes can take something out of it,” he said.

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“The process has gone fairly well,” College of Science and Technology Dean Ian Davison said. “Everyone has done a wonderful job of getting everything ready for this.”

Generally once a specific program decides it wants to be accredited, it must pursue it within its own college, said Curriculum and Assessment Director of Academic Affairs Denise Webster.

This begins by the program conducting an internal evaluation and compiling a self-study, Webster said.

This self-study includes the many documents about how curriculum was developed and the program’s facilities, Davison said.

“(We also) need to document the performance of students (within the study),” he said.

The college is seeking accreditation through ABET, Inc., the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering and technology. After completing the application, the college submits the self-study to ABET.

Evaluators came to campus two weeks ago for a site visit to review course materials, interview students and faculty, and tour facilities, according to ABET.com.

“That is as far as we’ve gotten now,” Davison said.

Davison said the program will probably get a written evaluation in January or February.

After the College of Science and Technology receives this statement, it has 30 days to respond to possible errors or to fix things that may need fixing.

“We can correct anything they identify that needs to be corrected,” Davison said.

This statement is edited many times before a final statement is put together, Davison said. He added that to ensure consistency, ABET applies the same criteria to each program.

After the final statement is issued, the ABET committee will meet and decide whether to approve accreditation for the program. If the mechanical and electrical engineering programs are accredited, the accreditation will be retroactive, Davison said. This means that even students who graduated before the program was accredited will be able to say they graduated from an accredited program.

Eric Robinson, a CMU engineering alumnus, thinks accreditation will help the university.

“I think the new accreditation puts the engineering program on the same playing field as every other engineering program in Michigan. Employers will now treat the program with the respect that it deserves,” he said in an e-mail to Central Michigan Life.

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Escalante will speak at 7 p.m. today in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium. Escalante was brought to campus through the King, Chavez and Parks Visiting Professor Program and Minority Student Services. He is the keynote speaker for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Escalante made a difference within the classes he taught, serving underprivileged Hispanics. The movie “Stand and Deliver” explains his story and pays tribute to Escalante.

“We want him to talk about his experience and his dedication and his persuasion to lift his students up,” said Lester Booker Jr., MSS graduate assistant.

Booker hopes the audience fills the auditorium. The visit cost $7,000, he said.

Booker said Escalante was convinced that his students had the ability to succeed.

Jeanette Smith, administrative secretary for Minority Student Services, expects a large turnout for the event.

“We estimate around 800 people,” she said.

Uzochukwuka Eluwa, president of Sigma Lambda Beta and Grand Blanc junior, said Escalante has become a great role model.

“He is the immaculate constellation of what it means to be a minority,” Eluwa said.

Escalante will discuss both his life and his teaching, Smith said.

Eluwa hopes Escalante will talk about other things as well.

“I want him to address the adversity he was facing at the time,” he said.

Eluwa said he supports Escalante for being a Latino and making a difference.

“Even in the midst of adversity, he was the representative of what being a Latino or a minority should be,” he said.

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