The story of the first institutional accreditation efforts was told in Chapters 1 and 3. Colonel Dick Rosser, Permanent Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, chaired the Academy’s second Accreditation Steering Committee to prepare for the 1969 accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (NCA). The self-study defended the all-military faculty, recognized the need for tenured faculty sabbaticals, and expressed concerns about meeting the goal of 50 percent rated officer staffing. In 1977 Colonel Bill Orth, Permanent Professor and Head, Department of Physics, chaired the Accreditation Steering Committee for the Academy to prepare for the 1979 accreditation evaluation. This time, among other things, the NCA report recommended increasing internal Permanent Professor sabbaticals devoted to research with no administrative duties. The evaluators thought these sabbaticals should re-address the state of the art in the member’s academic discipline and result in scholarly publications. The report also suggested the Academy find a way to include additional full professors who were not Department Heads. The table below shows the Permanent Professor chairs of the Accreditation Steering Committees for 1969 and subsequent accreditations and the salient findings by the NCA. All concerns listed were found to be resolved by the following evaluation.
| Year Steering Committee Chair | Salient NCA Findings |
|---|---|
| 1969 Col Rosser, Political Science |
- Commend effort to increase faculty research - Consider decreasing core to provide more major’s electives - Too little travel money for faculty attendance at professional society meetings - “USAFA appears to have attained a truly remarkable and unique record of achievement.” |
| 1979 Col Orth, Physics |
- Provide more electives in the core curriculum - Increase cadet remedial and academic support - Provide non-administrative positions for Permanent Professors - Reduce distinction between military and academic studies - Find ways to better support the few female cadets |
| 1989 Col Fisher, Engineering Mechanics |
- Move graduate assessment from Admissions and improve it - Adverse impact of relative lack of faculty PhDs - Commitment to equal opportunity should be more visible - Academic facilities are stretched to the limit - Formalize a long-term planning process |
| 1999 Col Reed, Biology |
- Address diversity across faculty, staff, and cadets - Library needs attention - Very supportive environment for cadet success - Technology infrastructure is out-of-date - Finish current cadet workload study, reexamine core, provide time for more cadet creativity and intellectual development - Rapid curriculum changes need assessment, stabilize and assess |
| 2009 Col Fullerton, Economics and Geosciences |
- “USAFA is a learning-focused institution of higher learning which promotes academic rigor, enrichment, and educational excellence for cadets and faculty.” - Clear improvement in IT resources; but should investigate if support of the .edu domain would improve if under the Dean of Faculty - Carefully consider what assessment data is meaningful and try to automate collection and analysis to avoid assessment fatigue and ensure the continuous improvement loop is closed |
The NCA findings have often supported significant changes to Academy programs. For example, the 1979 report recommended reducing the distinction between military and academic instruction. Subsequently, a Permanent Professor position was established as the Deputy Commandant of Cadets for Military Instruction. Colonel Phil Caine, who had extensive experience in the History Department, was appointed Permanent Professor to fill the position. He led a thorough review of military studies and training that resulted in a new model of the entire leadership development program, increased cadet motivation, and reduced attrition. The frequently expressed concerns about cadet workload have kept persistent pressure on the Academy to reexamine the entire program for relevance and degree of applicability to the needs of the Air Force. The next accreditation visit will be in 2019 and Colonel Dan Uribe, Permanent Professor and Head, Department of Foreign Languages, has already started preparation of the self-study. The accreditation will be done by the Higher Learning Commission, which is now the organization responsible for accreditation actions in the central United States.
Early engineering accreditations were summarized in Chapter 3. For accreditations after the year 2000, ABET significantly revised their accreditation criteria, becoming a higher education pioneer in focusing on learning outcomes-based education (what is learned rather than what is taught) with a renewed emphasis on gathering graduate performance data. To receive the benefits of feedback from the Air Force engineering community, the Engineering Division formed an Engineering Program Advisory Council that meets periodically to review the Academy’s engineering programs in the context of USAF needs and provide feedback on Academy engineering graduates’ performance. All engineering programs have been accredited for the maximum term, many retroactively. When the evaluators listed observations or concerns, these were always addressed in the following self-study report and found to be resolved in the accompanying evaluation visit. The evaluators typically raised concerns about faculty development through research or graduate study, support of laboratories and computing infrastructure, and cadet workload. They praised laboratory facilities and equipment, training and supervision of faculty, the high level of team integration in senior capstone design courses, and the large amount of interaction between faculty and cadets. Recommendations on specific department curricula led to careful consideration by the faculty for changes to the curriculum or cadet schedule. Those recommendations concerning faculty were addressed by changes in policy, procedures, schedules, or allocation of funds when appropriate.
The evaluation visit occurs in the fall of the academic year prior to the end of the accreditation, and the self-study report is submitted well in advance of the visit. The self-studies typically are prepared by a committee comprising senior military or civilian tenured professors representing each program and chaired by one of the members. Guidance and oversight is provided by a steering committee chaired by the Chairman of the Engineering Division and includes the other Engineering Division Department Heads. Each Permanent Professor carefully reviews the self-study for his or her department to ensure successful accreditation. Academy staff functions furnish other necessary data.
The Permanent Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science has led each accreditation effort beginning with Joe Monroe in 1985, continuing with Bill Richardson in 1989 and 1995, and Hoot Gibson leading for 2001, 2006, 2009, 2015, and 2017. The concerns and praise listed by the evaluators were very similar to those of the engineering programs, with one, not surprising for the computer science discipline, additional concern about support for the information technology infrastructure. All concerns were found to be resolved by the following evaluation. Although cadets graduated with Computer Science degrees starting in 1969, no accrediting agency existed until 1985 when the Academy’s program was the first one evaluated. The Computer Science major was accredited effective with the Class of 1986. Reaccreditation was granted in 1989, 1995, 2001, 2006 (to align with the Academy’s engineering programs), 2009, and 2015. The Computer and Network Security major was submitted for accreditation in 2018, retroactive effective back to the Class of 2016, the program’s first graduates.