UH West Oahu May Lose Accreditation
HNN: The Western Association of Schools and Colleges has slapped the University of Hawaii West Oahu with a "notice of concern," one step below a formal warning that its brand new Kapolei campus could be in danger of losing its accreditation….
WASC President Ralph Wolff sent UH West Oahu a letter July 10, saying its team that visited the campus in April expressed "... concern about the institution's inability to recruit and retain experienced senior academic leadership."
The campus has people in interim appointments holding two key positions as vice chancellor of academic services and vice chancellor of student services.
A 33-page report on the visit said momentum on improvements at the school "... was lost through a numbing combination of delay in the completion of the new campus, declines in funding, and lack of focused leadership."
…the visiting WASC team noted "almost all of the senior staff [has] been replaced since 2008."
The WASC panel also complained about what it called a "serious situation" at the school's new two-story library, which was being managed by an entry-level librarian and staffed with just two or three casual hires earlier in the summer. Two more staffers have since been added to the library pay roll.
The panel said many of the problems a previous visiting team of WASC officials found in 2008 had not been solved or improved upon in the past four years.
Awakuni has been chancellor of the school since 2005.
UH West Oahu officials said their current WASC accreditation is good through 2014.
read … Nice Building, Nobody Home
(At least the campaign contributors got a contract out of it....)
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WASC June 2012 Commission Actions
At its meeting June 13-15, 2012, the Accrediting Commission took action on the following institutions. Copies of Commission action letters, visiting team reports and public statements are available using the links below: