After projecting that 12-18 months would be needed to regain accreditation with the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, N.C. Central University’s School of Business could possibly regain accreditation as early as the first week of May.

According to Provost Beverly Jones, the school’s staff worked tirelessly to provide the required data to the ACBSP.

“I want to take my hats off to Dr. Sahoo, [interim school of business dean] faculty, and students because they have really achieved a lot in a short time,” said Jones.

The school lost its accreditation from the ACBSP Dec. 15 when former dean Benjamin Newhouse failed to apply for re-accreditation on time.

In a University news release, Newhouse said in his defense that leadership in the School of Business was busy working toward another accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate and Schools of Business International and thus did not respond to the ACBSP requests for information.

Chancellor James H. Ammons replaced Newhouse with Assistant Provost Bijoy Sahoo on an interim basis.

Since losing its accreditation, the University has quickly taken action to regain accreditation. The school completed its self study on Jan. 31, 2006.

The self study was reviewed by a peer review team, headed by Percy Vaughn, the former president of ACBSP.

In February, the peer review team made a site visit and submitted the results to the accreditation board. A week later, the school received the report and addressed the issues cited in the report. Provided that the school meets all of the requirements to become re-accredited, it will be inducted June 16-19 at the annual ACBSP meeting in Chicago.

“Maybe all this that we went through was a wake up call for all of us to rise to the occasion and showcase the talent and potential of [our] students,” said Sahoo.

Along with working on the accreditation with ACBSP, the school is also taking steps to gain accreditation with AACSB, the accreditation that they were working on when they lost accreditation with ACBSP.

The final draft of the self-evaluation has been finished and is ready for review by external consultants.

George Stevens, who will be the consulting dean, has already made a visit during April 18-19 and met with faculty, AACSB accreditation committees, the dean, and provost Jones.

Stevens will return in the fall to conduct a review. After the review, a site visit is expected sometime between September and November.