September 21, 2003

Members Present:
Michael Ahearn, Ph.D.
Shaun Caldwell
Paul Darlington, Ph.D.
Weldon Gage
Marilyn Greer, Ph.D.
Donna Hemphill
Kathy Hoffman
Shreya Kant
Victoria Knutson, Ph.D.
Patrick Martin
Charlotte Scott (for Lois Monroe)
Stephen Tomasovic, Ph.D., Committee Chair
Jon Wiener, Ph.D.

Members Absent:
Ellen Richie, Ph.D.

The first meeting of the SACS Compliance Report Committee commenced on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 at 9:02 am. The meeting was opened by Dr. Stephen Tomasovic, Vice President for Academic Affairs.

A. Welcome and Introductions: A welcome was extended to all attendees by the chairperson who also led committee member introductions. All members were given a Compliance Report notebook with information concerning the committee and its charge.

B. Purpose of Committee: By recalling M.D. Anderson's background, the chairperson was able to express the purpose of the committee. When M.D. Anderson received degree granting authority to offer bachelor degrees to the School of Health Sciences, it became necessary to become accredited through the accrediting agency, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The Compliance Committee's purpose is to compile and verify documentation required for academic accreditation. There are several parts to becoming academically accredited. The first part is to submit an application to the regional accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The initial application was submitted June 16, 2003. A copy of the application was displayed for review. An electronic copy of the application was given to all members as part of the information distributed in the Compliance Report Binder. The second part of the application process is to have an initial accreditation review visit from members of SACS. At this time, MDACC expects to have an accreditation visit from SACS in spring of 2004. As part of this visit, a Compliance Report will be prepared by the MDACC Compliance Committee to certify compliance of SACS Core Requirements and Comprehensive Standards. Compliance Committee Members and liaisons will assist in assigned areas to determine compliance, partial compliance or non-compliance.

Compliance Committee Structure (page 4 of Compliance Report). The committee is chaired by Dr. Stephen Tomasovic, Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Compliance Committee Executive Committee Members include Stephen Tomasovic, Marilyn Greer, and Michael Ahearn. Compliance Committee membership is composed of individuals knowledgeable in each of the areas of the Core Requirements and Comprehensive Standards.

A. Review of Documentation: The Compliance Report contains two areas: Core Requirement & Comprehensive Standards. Completion of documentation for the Core Requirements will be the first area of concentration for the committee. Core Requirement Sample Responses from a Texas institution included in the SACS pilot program (Texas A&M University) were provided in a separate binder. A SACS Application diskette (included in the documentation) can be used to refer documentation submitted in the application. The diskette has a Table of Contents which will assist members in maneuvering through the application. A Compliance Report diskette that consists of all SACS Compliance Report forms and MDACC Compliance Committee information was also enclosed to enable members to add to the compliance statements.

The SACS Core Requirements address information related to ensuring that M.D. Anderson has a governing agency; Board of Regents; a chief executive officer that is responsible for the institution; and a clearly defined and published mission statement. As an example, Dr. Tomasovic reviewed the mission statements from several UT System health care agencies. This type of information must be reviewed prior to composing the response to the Core Requirement concerning the institutional mission statement. A narrative will have to accompany M.D. Anderson's mission statement to certify that education is essential to the institution or the mission statement would need to be revised to place an emphasis on education. All other MDACC documentation must be consistent with the prepared response concerning the mission statement.

B. Proposed Schedule: The proposed time line in the Compliance Report information depicts the maximum timeline. A time line for completion of the Compliance Report that would allow completion of all documentation by December 2003 was reviewed with the committee members. The proposed December completion date would allow the Compliance Report to be completed prior to the SACS site visit. During the SACS site visit, all committee members will be required to be available during the SACS visit to respond to questions concerning their areas of expertise. The committee will build the Compliance Report October thru November; in December the report would be completed and posted for final committee review on the website. In January 2004, the entire university community would be invited to preview and comment on the Compliance Report. Members are to address assigned Core Requirements before the Oct. 9th meeting. Issues related to Core Requirements will be addressed at the October 9 meeting. Assignments for Comprehensive Standards will be provided during the consecutive meetings. Any remaining issues will be discussed at the Nov. 5th meeting. All responses for Comprehensive Standards will be posted prior to the Nov. 19th meeting. Final committee review of the departmental SACS website will take place in November and December.

Assignments for the October 9, 2003, meeting will be minimal. The main task for each committee member will be to review documentation from the SACS application (available on the packet CD) and verify that the documentation supports the assigned Core Requirement. If the documentation is incorrect or does not meet the Core Requirement standard for compliance, the committee member should provide narrative and documentation to correct the documentation and/or what must be done to become compliant. It is preferred that all documentation be transmitted electronically for inclusion in the departmental SACS website for review by all committee members. Committee members were encouraged to use the Compliance Report diskette and copy the SACS Core Requirement and add their response and documentation. The completed response should be e-mailed to Marilyn Greer (mjgreer@mdanderson.org). Committee input and assignments begin with Core Requirement 6 & 7 (Admissions and Registration). All planning information in the Core Requirements should be reviewed with from the aspect of making education a mission priority. Core Requirements 6 deals with Admissions and Registration information and 7 addresses degree programs. Core Requirement 8 involves faculty qualifications. Representatives from this area will need to verify and update faculty information in the submitted in the application. Core Requirement 9 involves updating information on Library Resources. Core Requirement 10 (Student Support Programs) will be a collaborative effort between the faculty and student representatives. Student representatives should review student support program documentation with the intent to report on how student services are actually functioning and areas that need to be enhanced. Core Requirement 11 (Financial Information) may also need updating to include FY03 finalized information.

The next meeting is scheduled for: Thursday, October 9, 1 - 2:00 P.M., HMB10.103

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