DETC 86th Annual Conference
April 15-17, 2012
The Wailea Beach Marriott Resort and Spa * Maui, Hawaii
The Future of Higher Education Accreditation
Monday, April 16th *
9:30 - 10:45 a.m. * Maile/Haku Rooms
Moderated by:
Ms. Elise Scanlon, Elise Scanlon Law Group
Featuring Panelists:.
Michale McComis, Accrediting Council
of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC)
Roger J. Williams, Accrediting Council
for Continued Education and Training
Michael P. Lambert, Distance Education and Training Council
Complete an online Session Evaluation!
This panel presentation will convene a selection of accrediting body leaders to provide first-hand information on the future of Higher Education accreditation. This free-form discussion session will provide attendees with valuable information on the future of higher education from those in the know: the leaders of national accrediting organizations.
As the Executive Director of the Accrediting Commission for Career Schools and Colleges, Dr. Michale McComis serves Chief Executive Officer of the accrediting commission, managing the day-to-day operation of ACCSC’s Arlington, Virginia office and staff, and overseeing the accreditation process for over 810 accredited and applicant institutions throughout the United States. Michale is also responsible for the Commission’s liaison activities with state and federal agencies, institutional and programmatic accrediting organizations, higher education associations, and coordinates the Commission’s legislative activities.
Michale’s tenure with ACCSC began in 1994 and during that time he has conducted hundreds of on-site evaluations to ACCSC member institutions, and is a frequent speaker at accreditation workshops and training seminars as well as at state and national conferences on accreditation and higher education. Michale has authored several publications and conducted several research projects for the Commission. Michale’s research specialty is in the area of measuring and evaluating student achievement outcomes and his training seminar topics cover areas such as leadership in private career colleges, the role of accreditation in institutional enhancement, and distance education and degree program development. Michale’s doctoral dissertation is entitled Does Leadership Matter?: The Relationship Between Leadership Characteristics and Student Achievement in Private Career Colleges. Michale has also participated in international accreditation activities in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Brazil, Canada, and the Caribbean and has on behalf of the Commission met with numerous international delegations seeking information about accreditation in the United States.
Michale has served an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia where he teaches graduate courses in education policy. Before joining ACCSC, Michale earned experience in the trades by working as an electrician’s apprentice and HVAC technician and through his service in the United States Marine Corps.
At the conclusion of the engineering phase of his career as Computer Operations Manager on one of the launch tracking sites for the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, Mr. Roger J. Williams spent the next five years at The George Washington University with the Cooperative Education and Training Program, initially as adjunct faculty and later as its Program Manager. Following that experience, he took a position at the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) as Vice President and Director of the training division, responsible for the operation of the Technical Education Center, a private non-profit Vo-Tech, for which he achieved dual accreditation with ACCET and NATTS (now ACCSC). After conducting numerous site visits for both agencies, he subsequently served as a Commissioner on the ACCET Commission until leaving the school and serving as the Executive Vice President of a start-up operation, the Continuing Education Association (CEA) which was affiliated with ACCET.
Roger has been the Executive Director of ACCET since 1990, during which time the agency has maintained the official recognition by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education as a “reliable authority” and in 1998, the agency was granted ISO 9001 certification as a Quality Management System, the only such agency to ever be awarded that status. He has served on numerous panels over the years, including three of the USDE negotiated rulemaking meetings beginning with the 1997 HEA, and has promised his wife Jeannie never to risk compromising his mental health again by so much as attending such a meeting.
Mr. Michael P. Lambert, a native of Western Pennsylvania, has served as the Executive Director of the Distance Education and Training Council since 1992. He joined the DETC staff in 1972. Over the years he has served on more than 600 accreditation review committees in eight countries. Mr. Lambert earned a BS degree in English/Education and an MA Degree in English Literature from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), and an MBA Degree in Finance from George Mason University. He has also attended the International Summer School at the University of Cambridge in England. He was a lecturer in Communications at George Mason University. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve in the Quartermaster Corps as an officer, where he was responsible for distance study course development at the USA Quartermaster School, Fort Lee, Virginia.
Mr. Lambert has taught, written and lectured widely on distance education and accreditation since 1972, and serves on numerous advisory boards, including the CHEA Committee on Recognition, the CHEA International Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School, the ACE Commission on Lifelong Learning and the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges, where he is the current Chair. His awards include the U.S. Army Commendation Medal, the DETC Distinguished Recognition Award, the DETC Distinguished Service Award, the IUP Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the European Association for Distance Learning’s “Roll of Honour” for his lifetime contributions to the field. |
