Health Science Center Receives 10-Year Accreditation

The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center has received full accreditation for 10 years from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
“I would like to express my thanks to everyone who had a part in the process,” said Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., president of the Health Science Center and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. “It was an enormous undertaking and was a real team effort. I would especially like to thank the committee members for the many hours that they spent researching and preparing the materials. Their hard work paid off.”
The SACS Commission on Colleges is the recognized regional accrediting body in 11 U.S. southern states, including Texas, for institutions awarding associate, baccalaureate, master’s or doctoral degrees. SACS is one of six regional accrediting organizations recognized by the U.S. Department of
Education. SACS members regularly perform comprehensive self-evaluations to assist them in planning for improvement and to assure the public of their overall quality.
Accreditation of an institution by the Commission on Colleges signifies that the institution has a purpose appropriate to higher education and has resources, programs and services sufficient to accomplish its purpose on a continuing basis. SACS accreditation is required before each A&M Health Science Center component can be accredited by its respective professional accrediting agency and is necessary in order to award federally funded student loans and scholarships.
The accreditation decision came after a lengthy self-study process conducted by the A&M Health Science Center and each of its components, with the goals of improving and strengthening the institutional effectiveness process of each, through identification of strengths and weaknesses, with plans of action and adequate resource identification to correct weaknesses. The SACS Commission on Colleges, which evaluates applying institutions by five major criteria, including institutional purpose and effectiveness, educational programs and support services and administrative processes, also made a site visit to the HSC component institutions in April 2002.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accredits more than 12,000 public and private educational institutions, from pre-kindergarten through university level, in 11 states of the southeastern U.S. and in Latin America. Member institutions regularly perform comprehensive self-evaluations to assist them in planning for improvement and to assure the public of their overall quality.
The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center provides the state with health education, outreach and research. Its five components located in communities throughout Texas are Baylor College of Dentistry, the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Institute of Biosciences and Technology and the School of Rural Public Health.