Pauletta Brown-Bracy, N.C. Central University’s director of university accreditation is in charge of making sure NCCU remains accredited. (Photo: Dana Womack/ Echo Staff Photographer)

Accreditation. It may sound like a word out of a spelling bee, but for a university it’s the official standard used to gauge academic standing and integrity.

“It is the standard applied to the practice of an institution,” said Pauletta Brown-Bracy, N.C. Central University director of university accreditation. NCCU has been accredited since 1938.

Bracy is an associate professor in the School of Library Science. It’s her job to make sure things go smoothly in 2009 when the University faces its 10-year re-accreditation review.

Bracy is clearly up to the task. She blends a courteous and matter-of-fact professionalism with a delightful sense of humor.

She has served on the executive board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, an experience that has prepared her for the challenge.

According to the SACS Commission of Colleges, “Accreditation ... signifies that an institution has a purpose appropriate to higher education and has resources, programs and services sufficient to accomplish and sustain that purpose.” It is an institution’s way of publicly stating that it has the “capacity to provide effective programs and services” and is committed to the “principles and philosophy of accreditation.”

Failure to achieve accreditation can be a major blow to the credibility of a university. It makes it harder to attract funding and talented faculty and students. It makes it harder to attract government funding, which would affect student and faculty enrollment. And it makes sustaining university programs and services difficult.

Thomas Evans, coordinator of the mass communication program, has been at NCCU through three accreditation processes. He said losing accreditation would be a disaster.

According to Evans, loss of accreditation will not happen since the commission would tell the school what needed to be rectified first.

The commission is a division of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

It is charged with accrediting institutions that award associate, baccalaureate, master’s or doctoral degrees across the South and in Latin America.

Though accreditation is years off, Bracy has already started getting NCCU ready to face the process. In 2005 she formed an internal committee to review NCCU’s compliance with SACS standards.

Bracy plans to organize focus groups with faculty and students so they can openly discuss problems and offer suggestions for improving the University. Bracy says it’s important for everyone to participate in these discussions.

The formal process with SACS begins this spring.

Bracy is also the point of contact between the SACS commission and NCCU’s Organization for SACS Reaffirmation, a body that includes three governing bodies and 15 committees responsible for evaluating compliance in all areas that affect accreditation.

Re-accreditation also requires a thorough university-wide self-assessment of all areas of operation from curriculum to student services to faculty professional development and University governance.

A quality enhancement plan is developed to describe actions that will be taken to improve student learning. This plan is submitted six weeks before the SACS commission holds its on-site review in 2009.

This QEP is a component of the accreditation process designed to affirm that “learning is at the heart of the mission” of all higher learning institutions, according to the SACS commission’s Principles of Accreditation.

In the final stage of the on-site review, SACS commission members — faculty and administrators from universities similar to NCCU – will discuss the QEP initiatives with faculty.

If all goes well, the SACS initiative will be reaffirmed and NCCU will be accredited for the next 10 years. Should NCCU fail to achieve re-accreditation, students already enrolled would still receive degrees under the institution’s current accreditation status.

Bracy also helps university programs and departments get specialized accreditation or certification.

“My goal is to get every accreditable department accredited,” said Bracy.