Columbia College Going Through Accreditation Process, Public Meeting Planned

Columbia, CA — As a member of the California Community College system, Columbia College goes through an accreditation process every seven years to ensure that the school is meeting the required standards.

The college will have a site visit by a peer review team from the Accrediting Commission for Community Junior Colleges (ACCJC) on September 18 and 19. The college started the process over 18 months ago and completed a one-year comprehensive self-evaluation, producing a required Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (ISER) that is posted on the college’s website.

The school reports that more than 70 staff, faculty, and students participated in the self-review process, working in teams that held many college-wide conversations, interpreted policies, and gathered evidence on the standards. The effort was led by a college accreditation team chaired by Vice President of Student Services Dr. Melissa Raby, Chemistry Professor Dr. Colin Thomas, and Curriculum Specialist Elissa Creighton. They review the mission, student services, academic success, administration, and overall performance.

Members of the community are invited to take part in the accreditation process and provide feedback at a public forum on Wednesday, September 18, from 4:30-5:30 pm in the Dogwood building on campus (11600 Columbia College Drive).

Columbia College President, Dr. Lena Tran, states, “We appreciate the extraordinary effort that has gone into our self-assessment process so far, and we look forward to this final stage in our cycle. We hope the community will join us in providing feedback to the visiting team.”

Columbia and Modesto Junior College were the first colleges in the Western region to apply a new set of ACCJC standards aimed at identifying strengths and weaknesses.

VP of Student Services, Dr. Melissa Raby, adds, “We always benefit from undergoing such a thorough self-assessment and identifying the areas where we are doing well and where we want to focus on improvement.”