When the site visit team from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools re-accreditation group arrives on campus next week, much of the visitors' time will be spent discussing the university's Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP.

The SACS team is scheduled to arrive on campus Tuesday, April 11, and spend two and a half days on campus before leaving April 13. While the first order of business will be to work through any questions team members have about TTU's compliance to SACS principles and guidelines, they are expected to quickly shift the focus to the QEP.

Meetings have been scheduled for SACS representatives to talk with individuals across campus about the QEP and campus involvement. However, at some universities, the review team has asked to talk with people who have not previously been involved in any way with the QEP, says Barry Stein, director of Planning.

"And there is always the possibility that one of our SACS visitors will stop in an office and ask to talk with someone there, unplanned and without notice," he adds. "That's why it's important for everyone on campus to be familiar with the QEP." (See President encourages everyone to know, support TTU's QEP in the past issue of Tech Times.)

Key points about the QEP that TTU President Bob Bell stresses everyone should know include:

* The QEP was developed with broad campus involvement.

* Its purpose is to improve students' critical thinking and real-world problem solving.

* The QEP involves campus-wide participation through projects developed by departments and individuals.

* The QEP is based on our campus vision for the life-long success of our students, and it's an important component of our strategic plan.

"The QEP affects the university in several important ways," says Stein. "It is a key part of the SACS accreditation process — without it we will not be accredited. Second, the QEP is now a component of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission's performance funding program, and it will impact more than $200,000 of general revenue to the university.

"And finally, the QEP should play an important role in increasing our students' life-long success, and their success will have a direct impact on our fund-raising efforts. In an era of declining state appropriations for higher education, fund raising is becoming an important source of funds for every university. These funds are playing an increasingly important role. In our own case, 50 percent of the funds for implementing the QEP are coming from our University Advancement office."

For more details on the QEP, visit www.tntech.edu/qep.