Maybe some of our NAIT members have wondered what a team visit is all about. As you know, NAIT accredits both Associate and Baccalaureate programs throughout the United States. Departments can petition NAIT requesting that one or more of their programs or concentrations be considered for NAIT National Accreditation. Here is a brief, in diary form, a typical agenda for a NAIT visit.

After NAIT has received a request from an institution for accreditation, the planning begins. This diary is based upon a recent visit to the Arizona State University East by visiting team members, Mr. Rick Coscarelli, Team Chair and industrial representative, Dr. Marvin Sarapin, Academic team member, and Dr. Donald Bennion, Academic team member.

• Institution must submit request for accreditation

• NAIT contacts academic and industrial approved team members to set up team for proposed ASUE visit.
• Team Chair receives NAIT Chair packet.
• Team Chair contacts other team members and establishes communication with the institutions contact person.
• Team Chair and institution contact establish preliminary on-site agenda.

• All team members receive institution "Self-Study" report.
• Team chair insures that all team members have the Self-Study and confirms on-site agenda.
• Team Chair, working with the other team members, establishes who will be responsible for each of the 62-accreditation standards.
• Team chair, institutional contact and team members work through NAIT to set up travel arrangements.
• Communication between Team Chair, team members and institutional contact take place as may be required. Questions about Self-Study, on-site requirements and miscellaneous items are resolved prior to the on-site visit.

• Institutional contact, Dr. Thomas Schildgen, picks up all team members at the Phoenix airport.
• Team is given a driving tour of the main ASU campus in Tempe and the ASU East campus in Mesa. ASU East houses the Department of Information and Technology Management, the focus of this teams visit.
• Team settles into hotel.
• Team meets with the institutional contact to work out any last minute changes to the agenda; the team makes requests for additional items for review and discusses the general format of the visit.
• Team retires early, 2^nd day of the visit is a killer day.

The team has much to do on day two. Most importantly, the team is at the institution to act as the "eyes and ears" of the Board of Accreditation. The team is on-site to audit and validate that the institutional "Self-Study" meets the 62 Accreditation standards and where they do not, to report the shortcomings. Shown below is our first full on-site visit day’s agenda. Often, the team will split up and go in different directions. This is done to not only maximize our time on-site but to have opportunities to move outside of the planned agenda for a closer look at specific standard compliance. There are opportunities to stop students, at random, and inquire about their view of the Industrial Management Department and the courses they are taking.

Thursday, April 4, 2002

7:00 AM Dr. Schildgen will pick-up team members Mr. Coscarelli, Dr. Sarapin, and Dr. Bennion for Breakfast, with Dr. Duff at Coco’s Superstition Springs.

8:10 AM Dr. Schildgen introduces the team to the Department Staff and tours the team work space available – Technology Center 102

8:20 AM Entry Meeting - Technology Center Conf. Room 109 – Dr. Maria Allison, Acting ASU Accreditation Officer/Acting Dean of the Graduate College; Vice Provost David Schwalm; Ms. Sarah Lindquist, Assistant Dean of the Graduate College; Dr. Jon Duff, IMT Accreditation Committee Chair; Dr. Schildgen, Dept. Chair; Dr. McHenry, Dean of CTAS.

8:50 AM Tour of the Technology Center

9:20 AM Tour of the Library (Charles Brownson) and Computer Commons (Kati Weingartner)

10:30 AM Meet independently with Faculty – Review Syllabi/Textbooks/Evaluation Materials/ Outcomes Assessment/Department Records

12:00 Noon Lunch in Technology Center – with Dr. Schildgen, Dr. Duff, Assoc. Dean Munukutla, Asst. Dean Palmgren

1:00 PM ASU East Career Services Representative and Admissions Representative/ Financial Aid

1:30 PM Meet with Undergraduate Students/Alumni - Tech Center Conf Room

2:30 PM Meet With Graduate Students/Alumni – Tech Center Conference Room

3:00 PM Meet with Industry Advisory Board Members and Employers – Tech Center Conf Room

4:00 PM Meet with Dean McHenry – CTAS Dean’s Office

5:00 PM Visiting Team Dinner with Dr. Albert McHenry, Dr. Thomas Schildgen, and Dr. Duff

• Team retires to hotel to continue writing tasks.
• Team members are given approximately 2 hours to start writing their observations to assigned standards and will meet later in the team chair’s room.
• Team meets in team chairs room to go over the day’s activities and to review and discuss each standards compliance. This usually takes about 1 hour.
• Team retires for the night.

Day 3 – Final day of visit

7:45 AM Dr. Schildgen will pick-up the NAIT Site Team

8:00 AM Continental Breakfast at the Technology Center Conference Room – Work Time in the Team Room (Tech 117).

9:00 AM Meet with Department Chair – Dr. Schildgen – Tech 102A

9:45 AM Meet with the Office of Environmental Technology Hal Berkowitz – Tech Center Conf Rm.

10:15 AM Work in the Team Room (Tech 117) – Review Department Web Pages, etc.

11:15 AM Meet with Provost Charles Backus and Vice-Provost David Schwalm - Technology Center Conference Room

12:00 Noon Lunch – with ITM Faculty, OET, and GITF - Mexican Buffet in Technology Center 194

1:00 PM Site Visitor Preparation Meeting – Discuss issues and begin preparing site report / exit meeting discussion points (Tech 117).

3:30–4:30PM Exit Meeting – ASU Accreditation Officer/Associate Dean Graduate College - Dr. Maria Allison; Ms. Sarah Lindquist, Assistant Dean of Graduate College; Vice Provost Dr. David Schwalm; Dean Albert McHenry; Dr. Thomas Schildgen; Dr. Jon Duff, ASUE Faculty Representative. – Technology Center Conf. Room 109

Team has finished their job on-site and returns to their respective homes.

No, it does not stop after the team gets home. Here are the activities that must be accomplished by the team as prescribed by NAIT in the Accreditation Handbook.

• Team chair incorporates all team members comments into singular "Visiting Team Report"
• Team Chair, within 2 weeks of the visit must get a "Draft" copy to each team member for review and correction.
• Each team member must respond to the chair within one week of receipt with their changes.
• Team chair then sends a "Draft" copy to the institutional contact person for review and correction of "Factually Incorrect Data". Institutional contact has one week to respond back to the team chair on the "Draft" report.
• Team chair edits final version and sends a copy to the institutions head (Provost in this case) with information on how to make an appeal and what procedures are up coming at the National Board of Accreditations Hearings at the NAIT Annual Convention.
• Relax until the Board Meeting at which time the Team chair and or team members must be present with an institutional representative to answer any questions the Board of Accreditation may have regarding the Team Report and Team recommendation.

Well, I hope that this has given you some insight into the nature of a NAIT Visiting Team visit for Accreditation. Fun to do, but not fun and games. The 3 days are intense and if you are the team chair it has added responsibilities. Those of us who are approved team members do it because of our desire to promote the concepts and guidelines of the National Association of Industrial Technology.

Oh, by the way, you will work into the night!

Here I am drafting and typing up the Team Report on Friday. Thank you my laptop computer, it sure beats long hand.