Drake’s College of Business and Public Administration regains accreditation
Drake University’s College of Business and Public Administration has regained accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a status it had voluntarily withdrawn more than two and a half years ago.
The college received notification Wednesday from the AACSB’s board of the renewed accreditation, said Terri Vaughan, dean of the College of Business and Public Administration. The new five-year accreditation caps an intensive review of 21 standards, which culminated with an on-site visit by a team of peer business college deans in October.
“We’re very pleased with that,” Vaughan said. “We had really, really great feedback every step of the way. They had a lot of good things to say about our professional preparation program; they used words like ‘impactful’ and ‘very progressive.’
“They were also very impressed with our students, and especially with what they do; they said the student body’s ownership of the program was very special,” she said. “The other thing I was thrilled about is what they said about the culture of the college, that the faculty are deeply committed to the students.”
Drake had withdrawn the specialized accreditation for its business and public administration college in April 2014 after a review found it was not in compliance with the standard for peer academic research. The accreditation is separate from Drake’s institutional accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, which was not affected by the withdrawal.
Vaughan said the AACSB’s standards on faculty research changed in 2013 and actually brought the college into closer alignment with Drake’s focus on having a balance between research and preparing students for careers.
“It’s really important for us to have a mix of faculty, and the new standards allow us to have that mix of professional and academically prepared faculty,” she said.
The college also used the accreditation period to revise some of its curriculum, to include new business analytics requirements and the addition of a course in business writing to accompany the business speaking course, Vaughan said.
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