WINNEMUCCA - The process of renewing accreditation is nearly complete for Great Basin College.
The Great Basin College (GBC) campus in Winnemucca, across the street from Lowry High School, is part of the entire Great Basin College system spanning 62,000 square miles and 19 rural communities all connected to the main campus in Elko.
When Great Basin College undergoes the comprehensive process of documentation, site visits, and interviews that is required for accreditation renewal, each of the Great Basin College centers takes part in that process.
Winnemucca's Great Basin College center is one of four campuses (Winnemucca, Ely, Battle Mountain and Pahrump), where services are offered within a college center building. Interactive audio-video classes can be accessed by the more remote communities.
The accreditation committee's preliminary report shared three recommendations on areas they wanted to see more developed and five commendations on areas where the college was excelling.
The three recommendations encouraged continued work to develop a definition of mission fulfillment with measurable results, planning for specific activities to mesh with the mission, and strategic planning to enable the college to continue providing services amid current and future challenges.
Winnemucca Great Basin College Director Lisa Costa Campbell said Great Basin College has already been working toward fulfilling the team's recommendations.
Costa-Campbell works directly with Great Basin College President Dr. Mark Curtis, and both are enthusiastic about the commendations by the members of the accreditation committee.
They said they have been assured that the accreditation evaluation team will recommend to the
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Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities that Great Basin College receive accreditation renewal for the full seven year maximum.
The college accreditation team commended (GBC) on the extraordinarily cooperative collaborative spirit throughout the organization. Dr. Curtis said the team noted the resilience and spirit of teamwork they saw among faculty and staff at all levels; they said that despite being stretched thin, GBC employees exhibit a remarkable commitment to serving students and their community.
The team found that GBC's utilization of interactive audio-video (IAV) technology has created a dynamic and effective learning community for the students in all of the GBC centers. IAV technology makes college classes available at four main college centers and more than a dozen other remote communities. Many rural Nevada residents would not have access to continuing education if it was not available within their own community.
In Winnemucca, the interactive audio video (IAV) distance education experience is better than ever for students and their teachers. New 50-inch monitors at GBC Winnemucca allow students to see their teachers at about life-size. Teachers have a great view of their students in their remote classes, and students from distant classes can see each other on the monitors.
The larger monitors were also included in a new Interactive Education Center building on the Winnemucca campus. The new building with two additional classrooms was made possible by a generous bequest from the Gladice Wochner estate and the GBC Foundation.
A teacher in an IAV classroom can fill the virtual classroom with students from many locations, some as far as 500 miles away; IAV allows the students in remote locations to respond to questions from the teacher, or ask questions of their own, and even to learn from each other.
Dr Curtis said in addition to how well the IAV systems connect the college sites academically, another commendation noted that the accreditation team was impressed by how the many sites were connected on both management and operational levels into a very cohesive institution.
One commendation from the committee was worded in such a way that it brought wry smiles to many within the GBC system. The Committee commended GBC's "financial agility." That financial agility is very likely to be put to a further test when the Nevada Legislature completes the budget and the state higher education system finalizes decisions on a funding formula for the next biennium.
Whatever funding comes from the 2013 Legislature, an interim legislative committee has now been formed to study the funding and control mechanisms of community colleges. Dr. Curtis said the decision to press for an interim study committee was prompted by the Nevada System of Higher Education proposed funding formula changes, which will not work for the community colleges. He said alternative funding models have to be explored prior to the next legislative session beginning early in 2015.
Dr. Curtis said regardless of the challenges, the focus will not be negative. "We will face significant funding challenges, but it doesn't do any good to be a pessimist," he commented. And despite continuing funding challenges, Dr. Curtis said there is no consideration of closing any of Great Basin College's centers in Nevada's rural communities.
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