Ithaca College

Our Middle States liaison, Dr. Tito Guerrero, has named Dr. Joseph Bascuas chair of the visiting review team for our reaccreditation self-study. Visiting team chairs are assigned by the Middle States Commission from a group of potential evaluators who have experience as members of evaluation teams.

Middle States consults with the college under review to determine if any conflicts of interest exist with the identified chair—none exist in this case.

Dr. Bascuas has served as review team chair for reaccreditation self-studies at several member institutions in the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. He is therefore highly familiar with the Standards for Accreditation, the process of self-study, and recent reviews at a variety of colleges and universities. Dr. Guerrero commends him as an effective team leader, whose role in effect is to coordinate the work of the  specialists on the team with respect to the standards for accreditation.

Dr. Bascuas has served as president of Medaille College, interim president at Becker College, and was the founding president of the for-profit, Argosy University in Atlanta, Georgia. Previously, Dr. Bascuas held administrative and teaching positions at the Georgia School of Professional Psychology, Antioch University, Nova/Southeastern University, and Salve Regina University.

Over the next several months Drs. Bascuas and Guerrero will assemble our visiting team from peers at other institutions in the Middle States region using a detailed list of desired qualifications and experience provided by the Ithaca College Self-Study Steering Committee. We suggested that the group represent faculty, staff, and/or administration:

• from highly residential, comprehensive colleges

• from campuses that are not in a major metropolitan area

• with experience meeting the needs of students, faculty, and staff from underrepresented backgrounds

• from colleges/universities with a holistic approach to education that integrates academic and student life

• from colleges/universities with strong co-curricular programs

• with experience in the curricular aspects of student advising

• with curriculum design/assessment experience

• from colleges/universities with professional programs having a primarily undergraduate focus

• with college/university admissions/marketing/branding experience

Dr. Bascuas will visit Ithaca College to meet with the Steering Committee and President Collado in October or November, 2017. The visiting team will visit campus to conduct their review between February and  April, 2018.