UTRGV removed from probation

Earlier today, a national agency removed the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley from its probationary status after the university successfully addressed an accreditation standard it failed to meet last year.

UTRGV failed to comply with federal requirement 4.7 of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Principles of Accreditation.

The federal requirement states: “The institution is in compliance with its program responsibilities under Title IV of the most recent Higher Education Act as amended. (In reviewing the institution’s compliance with these program responsibilities, the Commission relies on documentation forwarded to it by the U.S. Department of Education.) (Title IV program responsibilities).”

President Guy Bailey emailed the campus community, informing it that the university’s probationary status has been lifted.

In an interview with The Rider shortly after the announcement was made, Bailey said the university can now devote resources it has been using to get out of probation for other things.

“The school has always been accredited and it’s still accredited,” he said. “What it means now is that we don’t have to continually be monitored by the accrediting agency the same way we were. … We’ve always been accredited and probation just means that you’re being watched carefully and you have to prepare reports and you have to be evaluated. So, all of that is gone.”

A SACSCOC committee visited the campus in October to review evidence of compliance with federal requirement 4.7.

The SACSCOC committee’s report was “very encouraging,” according to the UTRGV president.

Asked what would happen if UTRGV is placed on probation for a second time in the future, Bailey replied the university will undergo the same process.

“I don’t ever anticipate this happening again,” he said. “It was a very unusual circumstance and it was really a once-in-a-lifetime circumstance that caused this. Remember, all of this was tied to the split of TSC and UTB and the kinds of things we had to do in response to that.”

SACSCOC is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.

In Bailey’s email, the president also stated the university will focus on a reaffirmation report, which will be submitted on Sept. 1, 2019, as part of the normal accreditation review process all SACSCOC institutions undergo every 10 years.

“I want to thank the campus community for their support,” Bailey said. “We’ve always had strong support from our students, faculty and staff. They have been very good at helping us work through all of this.”

Pamela Cravey, SACSCOC’s coordinator of Communications and External Affairs, said in today’s meeting, the agency approved UTRGV’s request to add three new programs:

–doctorate in philosophy in business administration at the Center for Innovation and Commercialization Incubator in Weslaco beginning in Spring 2019;

–master of education in teacher leadership beginning in Spring 2019;

–doctorate in philosophy in clinical psychology beginning in Fall 2019.