BRYAN COLLEGE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING RECEIVES ACCREDITATION
Dayton, Tenn. (April 10, 2018) — Bryan College’s newly added Vogel School of Engineering has received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
The SACSCOC is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states. All major, significant programs that represent “new territory” for a school must go through a rigorous accreditation process, and rarely do programs receive approval on first request.
“This is a cause for celebration! New programs of this magnitude are not always approved by SACSCOC during the initial application process, and even more rarely are they approved with no request for follow-up information,” said Dr. Samuel Youngs, accreditation and compliance coordinator.
For Bryan College’s Vogel School, the accreditation process culminated in the production of a Prospectus, which is submitted to the accrediting body (SACSCOC) for approval. A typical Prospectus is over 100 pages in the final draft, and involves the input of key administrators faculty, all coordinated, edited, and assembled by the Accreditation Liaison. Key faculty and administrative contributors worked over 100 hours drafting the Prospectus prior to submission.
Bryan College President Dr. Stephen Livesay said, “The accreditation of our new Engineering School is a true testament to those who’ve worked so hard to bring this program to Bryan College. We appreciate their expertise in establishing a program that will provide another avenue for Bryan students to succeed in the business world while fulfilling our mission of students making a difference for Christ. We are excited about the blessings this new program will provide.”
The Prospectus includes all relevant data and information that is necessary to support a brand new academic program. The most important sections of a Prospectus detail the following:
- Program Curriculum, Courses, and Learning Objectives
- Program Assessment Measures
- Program Financial Resources
- Program Physical Resources (equipment, classrooms, computers, faculty offices–including floor plans, price sheets, etc.)
- Faculty Roster for the Program (detailing credentials to ensure programmatic rigor)
- Library Resources to Support the Program
- Program’s Contribution to the Mission of the School
A Prospectus, once submitted, must meet approval in two stages. First, the Director of Substantive Change at SACSCOC performs a preliminary reading of the Prospectus. If that Director finds the Prospectus to be adequate, they then forward it to the SACSCOC Board of Trustees. That body reads the Prospectus, weighs each element of it, and judges its adequacy, cogency, feasibility, etc. The whole process with SACSCOC has taken Bryan College faculty and administrators about four and a half months, with a total of seven months from the start of writing the Prospectus.
This four-year newly accredited engineering program is set to become available to students by the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester. Learn more about Bryan’s Vogel School of Engineering here.
ABOUT BRYAN COLLEGE
Bryan College is a private, non-profit, Christian liberal arts institution located in Dayton, TN. Bryan College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and offers 25 majors with more than 50 unique fields of study and three graduate programs with more than 10 specializations and two certificates. The Bryan motto, “Christ Above All” can be found not only emblazoned on the college logo but also pursued in the lives of Bryan faculty, staff, students, and alumni. To lean more, visit http://www.bryan.edu.
