McNeese State University

Section 2:
Core Requirements
2.1	2.2	2.3
2.4	2.5	2.6
2.7.1	2.7.2	2.7.3
2.7.4	2.8	2.9
2.10	2.11	2.12
Section 3:
Comprehensive Standards
3.1.1	3.2.1
3.2.2.1	3.2.2.2	3.2.2.3
3.2.2.4	3.2.3	3.2.4
3.2.5	3.2.6	3.2.7
3.2.8	3.2.9	3.2.10
3.2.11	3.2.12	3.2.13
3.2.14	3.3.1	3.4.1
3.4.2	3.4.3	3.4.4
3.4.5	3.4.6	3.4.7
3.4.8	3.4.9	3.4.10
3.4.11	3.4.12	3.4.13
3.4.14	3.5.1	3.5.2
3.6.1	3.6.2	3.6.3
3.7.1	3.7.2	3.7.3
3.7.4	3.7.5	3.8.1
3.8.2	3.8.3	3.9.1
3.9.2	3.9.3	3.10.1
3.10.2	3.10.3	3.10.4
3.10.5	3.10.6	3.10.7
Section 4:
Federal Requirements
4.1	4.2	4.3
4.4	4.5	4.6
4.7	4.8

McNeese State University
Compliance Plan for Reaffirmation

Section 3.4.2: Educational Programs: All Educational Programs

(includes all on-campus, off-campus, and distance learning programs and course work) ( See Commission policy "Distance Education")

Judgment of Compliance

Compliance

Partial Compliance

Non-compliance

Requirement

The institution's continuing education, outreach, and service programs are consistent with the institution's mission.

Narrative

McNeese State University is in compliance with Comprehensive Standard 3.4.2

As demonstrated in the mission statement, McNeese State University "provides education, research, and service that support our core values of academic excellence, student success, fiscal responsibility, and university-community allicances." The University also "engages in collaborative ventures to benefit industry and to enhance economic development and cultural growth in this region and beyond."

In addition to traditional course offerings, the University fufills an important role in providing services to promote student success, to provide outreach according to a specific region or populace, and offer continuing education and development course offerings to fufill the needs of local providers, businesses, and individuals meeting training requirements, renewing licenses, and furthering educational goals.

In order to meet the continuous lifelong learning needs of the people of Southwest Louisiana, Continuing Education assists in "recruiting and retaining nontraditional students and providing a variety of quality continuing education programs and delivery strategies designed to meet intellectual, cultural and ever-changing occupational needs of the citizenry."

To achieve the University's institutional goals and mission statement, the University makes available offerings and programs to serve the different audiences and communities of Southwest Louisiana and beyond. Some examples of these are as follows:

Diversified selection of daytime and evening courses
Off-campus classes
Accelerated classes
Telecourses
Satellite teleconferencing and interactive compressed video opportunities
Web-based instruction
Workshops
Short courses
Training programs

Every course offered through continuing education and leisure learning, whether offered for continuing education credit, academic credit or professional certification, is evaluated first and foremost by course participants. Instructional quality, preparedness of instructors, appropriateness of the physical environment in which the course is offered and relevance and usefulness of course content are among those items which participants are asked to assess. Results of these evaluations are used to help determine which instructors will be retained for future course offerings and whether or not a given course continues to prove beneficial to recipients in light of market forces that impact interest and enrollment.

Continuing education courses are designed around content identified by local industries. The Director of Continuing Education sits in an Ex Officio capacity on the Board of Directors of the Lake Area Industry Alliance/McNeese Engineering Partnership. Surveys of plant needs are taken annually among participating members, and each industry representative casts a vote on the types of continuing education needs that are most prominent within a given industrial context. Topics receiving highest rankings are identified and corresponding continuing education and professional development courses, conferences, and programs are subsequently developed around those topics.

Annual economic impact surveys are conducted utilizing University officials in partnership with local business and industry leaders to assess the health and growth of local economic forces. Data growing out of these surveys are used by continuing education personnel to anticipate the types of program and course needs that may be needed to meet market demands and ensure continuing and professional development of personnel in an array of fields of employment.

Responsiveness to the local community is a hallmark of McNeese State University’s identity as a regional state university. Upon consultation with representatives from diverse industries within the region, McNeese State University contracted with Gatlin Education Services (GES) to provide employment specific online courses in direct support of identified workplace competencies and skills. GES provides the instructors, course materials including transcribers where appropriate, marketing, web access and evaluation for the courses specified in the contract. Some examples of the different courses offered are:

Medical Transcription
Webmaster and AutoCAD Certification
Pharmacy Technician
Project Management
Revenue Cycle Management
Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator 2003

Local school superintendents, curriculum directors, high school principals and counselors, and other public school officials in Southwest Louisiana are contacted annually through written, telephone, and onsite consultation in order to determine the college credit needs of their high school senior student population. Students from multiple high schools within a given parish are eligible to enroll and drive to a designated school location within the parish to receive instruction delivered by on site instructors or through distance education technology. The University’s off-campus credit initiative was launched in 1999 with thirty-three students and by 2005 had grown to enroll one-hundred fifty students within the region. English courses constituted initial offerings with additional options in history and college introductory courses developed as requested by school officials.

Calcasieu Parish Schools are scheduled to implement a parish-specific dual credit program in Fall 2006. This program, in contrast to those offered at other parish school locations, will combine college credit with high school credit in order to facilitate dual completion of senior year select course requirements that also satisfy general education course requirements at McNeese.

Recently, as part of a regular evaluation of effectiveness, Continuing Education was moved to the information technology area to better align recruiting and outreach efforts to evening students and non-traditional students. The Chief Information Technology Officer oversees the Marketing Coordinator thereby pairing outreach services with the information technology that is required to support student needs. After careful analysis, Continuing Education is changing its primary focus to evening school and non-traditional student enrollment. Geographical location data is regularly analyzed to help determine needs of potential and current student populations. Programs are developed and locations are selected that are convenient to students who must plan study programs around work, children, and other activities and commitments. Therefore, marketing resources as well as resources for electronic delivery of courses will serve the objectives of continuing education well.

Blackboard is a technology McNeese uses to allow teachers to communicate with students, enhance instructional delivery through electronic access, provide students with online discussion forums, and enable interaction for distance education and off-campus students.

In order to support teaching, learning and research at McNeese State University, Frazar Memorial Library provides access to materials for Distance Education students and faculty as well as those students and faculty on campus. Librarians are available to provide resources and instruction, oversee delivery of materials, provide technical assistance, and to answer any questions.

Distance education technology permitted the University’s outreach program to extend its impact into Beauregard, Jeff Davis, and Allen parishes. This technology permits the University to connect with students in predominantly rural high schools in order to deliver college-level credit to them while still enrolled in their senior year coursework. An additional benefit of this technology infrastructure impacts graduate students, primarily teachers seeking master’s degrees, who are able to use the same technological resources when receiving graduate instruction that is delivered partially or entirely through distance education.

"For students, the general public and professionals in various industries, professional continuing education hours, general education and career enhancement opportunities are available throughout the year. Approved courses which meet specific professional standards of instruction and content enable registered students to receive Continuing Education Units, or CEUs. Ten hours of instruction are required as the minimum for granting one CEU. Decimal units are given for less than ten hours. The CEU is not applicable toward any degree program at the University. However the CEU is a nationally recognized method of uniformly measuring and recording a student’s participation in noncredit continuing education programs under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction. CEU credits earned will be placed in a permanent, retrievable transcript available from Continuing Education."

EASE (Emphasis on Adult Special Entry) is one type of program that was created to assist adult students by providing a simplified admission and registration procedure. Courses may be taken on a credit or noncredit basis. Courses taken for credit through the EASE program may by transferred to a degree program. As stated in the catalog, "EASE students may transfer to a degree program a maximum of 18 semester hours successfully passed for credit."

The Leisure Learning program offers experiences for enrichment, enjoyment, and self-improvement. The Leisure Learning Program offers a wide variety of short-term noncredit courses such as:

ACT Grammar, Science, Reading and Math Review
MCAT Preperation
Microsoft software courses
Stained glass course
Photography

McNeese State University, its faculty, staff, and students, are very involved in outreach and service efforts. After Hurricane Rita, outreach efforts were temporarily revised to accommodate different priorities and changed circumstances.

Off-campus class locations sustained less damage than the University campus, resumed instuction before on-campus classes, and completed course requirements according to the original instructional schedule. The off-campus compressed video History Early Admission class completed in early January when the off-campus sites resumed normal operations.

Lack of on-campus classroom space as a result of hurricane damage greatly affected the University's ability to reschedule and resume the Fall Schedule for Continuing Education and Leisure Learning and, consequently, adversely impacted program revenue. Continuing Education relinquished its only computer lab in Farrar 315 for use by academic classes. Once space became available in the training room at the McNeese Police Station, Leisure Learning computer classes resumed. The Alumni Center staff arranged evening slots for classes as their main room was used heavily during the day for academic classes. The Alumni Center Board of Directors provided a $2000 donation to help off-set the loss of revenue and cost for additional room rentals. Alternative off-campus sites were researched and arrangements made for Spring classes. Leisure Learning had planned a Fall series of computer classes at the Johnson Bayou Branch of the Cameron Parish Library. The library branch was completely destroyed. The Coordinator planned a series of computer and leisure classes in DeRidder at the Beau Care facilities. Due to increased services needed by Hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees in Beauregard Parish, these classes were cancelled. Grant class enrollment was limited since training was not a high priority as companies struggled to reopen and recapture income lost during and after the hurricane. McNeese State University developed continuing education courses for tax accounting professionals from local public accounting firms encountering new regulations and guidelines for managing public funds and resources related to hurricane recovery efforts.

Upward Bound is one outreach program that supports the institutional mission of service. The mission of the Upward Bound Program provides fundamental support to participants in their preparation for college entrance. The program provides opportunities for participants to succeed in pre-college performance and ultimately in higher education pursuits. Upward Bound serves high school students from low-income families. High school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelors degree are also eligible. The goal of Upward Bound is to increase the rates at which participants enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education.

Program participants are selected from five area middle schools and three high schools. According to the 2006 Master Plan and Institutional Summary, 62 eligible participants received services from the program. Due to damages sustained from Hurricane Rita, the Upward Bound staff has been displaced from its office in Gayle Hall. While the inconvenience to staff has been tremendous, the resulting temporary headquarters based in the low-income community at Epps Library has been a plus. Moving into the community that Upward Bound serves has significantly improved outreach efforts, resulting in a twenty (20) percent increase in parent, student, alumni, community, and recruiting contacts.

College of Nursing

The College of Nursing places great import on community/service alliances with the belief that both are integral to its programs and the success of its students. In January 2001, McNeese State University entered into a contract with the newly-formed Calcasieu Community Clinic, a 501 (c)(3) corporation to open a free health care clinic to low-income, working and uninsured families in Southwest Louisiana. Through this collaborative endeavor, patients are cared for by volunteer physicians and pharmacists, and nurses, including faculty and students in the College of Nursing programs which benefits both the nursing program and the clinic.

BS Wildlife Management Program

The Department of Agriculture spends considerable time in outreach efforts in the community including hosting a “Hog Camp” for youth in our area to learn how to judge livestock. After Hurricane Rita struck, faculty in the BS Wildlife Management program championed three FEMA grant proposals to enhance the educational learning opportunities for McNeese students, including a grant to rebuild and maintain the Coastal Prairie Garden as a major outreach educational program for community awareness of riparian watersheds and coastal marshes ($185,000), a grant to fund the Louisiana Environmental Research Center (LERC) at MSU for five years ($3,250,000), and a grant to prepare an emergency drainage management plan for Calcasieu Parish ($85,000). At this writing, the grants are pending.

Kay Doré Counseling Center (KDCC)

The mission of the KDCC is to provide mental health counseling training, to offer affordable clinical services to the low-income sector, to provide educational activities to the public and peers in the professional community, and to implement research that relates to the enhancement of the mission and services of the KDCC. This mission includes co-sponsoring, with the Department of Psychology, continuing education presentations for mental health professionals as well as providing mental health educational opportunities to the community. Students providing services to the general public at the KDCC began utilizing a newly generated evaluation of services questionnaire in the Spring 2006 semester with initial results for the two student counselor interns being very positive.

The Kay Doré Counseling Clinic was greatly affected by Hurricane Rita in Fall 2005. The Clinic shut down in late September and did not reopen until the end of October. This not only caused a cessation of appointments during this time, but the months immediately following the reopening were nearly void of appointments. This seemed to be caused by the evacuation as well as the immediate needs of establishing sufficient shelter and means of obtaining food and water that were required by the citizens who returned to area. In addition, the Clinic itself sustained damage to the file room, staff offices, waiting area, and all counseling rooms. Sufficient repairs were completed in April 2006 allowing restoration of a safe, secure, and confidential environment for providing services.

The KDCC, which normally operates 5 days per week from 8 am to 8 pm during regular semesters, lost 85 client contact hours when compared to the same period during the prior year. Some contact with clients by phone was made by student counselors and the KDCC faculty coordinator. In April, an advertisement offering free counseling to those severely affected by Hurricane Rita and to those grandparents with custody of their grandchildren was run in the Lagniappe newspaper.