The report also called upon the faculty and staff to address weaknesses in student assessment and its general education program and recommended the college centralize its policies and procedures in one manual. FLC President Joel Jones released the report last week. It officially grants Fort Lewis NCA reaccreditation for the next 10 years and represents the fifth time the college has received accreditation since its first NCA visit in 1958.
Copies are available in vice presidents' and deans' offices and the library.
The North Central Association, founded in 1895 as a voluntary organization to foster close relationships between colleges and secondary schools in the Midwest, began accrediting higher education institutions in 1913. Today, more than 960 institutions of higher education in 19 states in the central United States have NCA accreditation. Fort Lewis first received NCA accreditation as a junior college in 1958 and full accreditation as a four-year college in 1966. The last accreditation visit was 10 years ago. Generally, the teams try to balance the positives with the negatives they find, but in our report, the team found far more strengths than concerns.