An evaluation team will be on campus November 3-4 to determine whether DVC has made sufficient progress to remain an accredited college.

The team will collect evidence and talk with students, faculty, staff and administrators to verify an 82-page report submitted by DVC earlier this month to the Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

The report outlines how the college has fixed problems identified by a previous evaluation team that led the Commission last February to downgrade DVC’s status to one step short of losing its accreditation.

DVC President Judy Walters said she is confident the college is prepared for the team’s visit.

 “Absolutely, because of all the people we have had working on this,” she said.  “If you look at the actions taken, the only clear solution is that we have satisfied all of the recommendations.”

During the spring and summer terms, work groups under the umbrella of an oversight task force implemented the recommendations made by the previous evaluation team.

These improvements include creation of a new College Council, revision of DVC’s mission statement, integration of technology into college planning, tying college planning to budget decisions, updating hundreds of courses and developing student learning outcomes.

The commission also called for more transparency and campus wide communication in decision making.

Faculty Senate President Laurie Lema, who served on the Accreditation Oversight Task Force, shares Walters’s optimism, “We have taken the considerations seriously, and we have worked to address them,” she said.

Faculty Senate Vice President Keith Mikolavich, said DVC has steered itself in a new direction.

“It takes time for an organization the size of DVC’s to absorb and work with change,” he said.  “But I’ve had a lot of conversations with my friends and colleagues on campus . . . and I’m struck with how their magnanimous dedication to this college transcends any past tensions we’ve had.”

Commission President Barbara Beno said the commission will make its decision in January after assessing the college’s “Show Cause” Report and evidence gathered by the team on its visit.

DVC’s “Show Cause” Report states the district would be reconfigured into a two-college district, if DVC lost its accreditation.  DVC and the San Ramon Center would be renamed as satellite centers under either Los Medanos or Contra Costa colleges.