Article Date
December 20, 2005
The board of commissioners for the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs has renewed accreditation for OBU's Paul Dickinson School of Business.
"It is an honor," said Dr. Richard Rudebock, dean of the School of Business. "It is something that sets OBU apart from many schools our size because it is a rigorous process to go through the accreditation cycle.
"It is a credit to our faculty members because they are the ones who are out there day in and day out working with the students, providing the quality education that we believe we offer. That belief has been reinforced by the accrediting agency," said Rudebock
Every 10 years, institutions accredited by the ACBSP are required to go through an accreditation renewal process. The schools are reassessed to insure that standards are maintained.
As part of that renewal process the School of Business spent the 2003-04 academic year accumulating information. During the 2004-05 year, a report was written and submitted to the ACBSP.
In October, a three-person audit team visited OBU's campus to verify the information reported was acurate. The team then presented its findings to a committee which voted to reaffirm the accreditation for the School of Business.
The ACBSP is a volunteer organization. Both the audit team and the committee consisted of faculty members and administrators from other Christian institutions, so they're used to looking at and dealing with the challenges and issues of faith-based schools that are the same size as OBU, said Rudebock.
The committee took many aspects into consideration during the audit process, from finances to staffing and personnel. They also looked at the way the School of Business handles paperwork, faculty involvement in the teaching of the students, faculty participation in the community, faculty teaching loads, and student activities.
"The committee was most impressed by three things: the faculty, the students, and the alumni," said Rudebock. "They were very impressed with the quality of our faculty, 80 percent of whom have terminal degrees. For a school our size that is very high.
"The committee was pleased and impressed with the group of current students they met," Rudebock said. "They also met with a group of alumni who live in the area. They were impressed by the quality of jobs that the alumni held as well as the love they have for OBU and the quality of education that they received."