Accreditation

McLennan Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award the Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Arts in Teaching, and Associate of Applied Science degrees. Contact SACSCOC at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of McLennan Community College.

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Subsequent to the scheduled Reaffirmation Committee Review on November 1-4, 2021, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Board of Trustees rendered their opinion on June 16, 2022, to place the McLennan Community College on Warning. Warning is the less critical of the two sanctions that can be placed on institutions by SACSCOC. The College will submit a monitoring report for the SACSCOC Board Meeting in April 2023 in advance of the June 2023 meeting. At that time, the SACSCOC Board will consider action to reaffirm accreditation.

McLennan Community College remains fully accredited, which means coursework, degrees, and certificates are valid and will continue to be highly respected by employers and other higher education institutions.

The ruling indicates that McLennan Community College failed to demonstrate compliance with the following:

  • Core Requirement 6.1 - Full Time Faculty
    • REQUIREMENT: This core requirement expects that the College will employ an adequate number of full-time faculty members to support the mission and goals of the institution.
    • SPECIFIC CONCERN: Finding is specifically related to the number of overloads taught by full-time faculty.
    • CORRECTIVE ACTION: The College revised Policy F-III-E (Teaching Loads for Instructional Personnel) and it was implemented for the Spring 2022 semester.
    • SACSCOC FEEDBACK: SACSCOC confirmed there is a 12-month monitoring required to be sure the institution is following the new policy and there is sufficient faculty hired.
  • Standard 5.4 – Qualified administrative/academic officers
    • REQUIREMENT: This standard expects that the College will employ administrative and academic officers with appropriate experience and qualifications to lead the institution. Further, this standard expects an institution to evaluate those administrative and academic officers regularly.
    • SPECIFIC CONCERN: Finding is specifically related to not all employees completing Section 4 of the annual evaluation instrument. This section includes setting objectives and performance standards.
    • CORRECTIVE ACTION: Administrative and academic officers completed section 4 with performance objectives, mid-year reviews, and annual reviews for the 2021 evaluation cycle. The Administration also modified the annual evaluation form to improve this process, and it was implemented for the evaluation cycle for 2022.
    • SACSCOC FEEDBACK: SACSCOC indicated compliance could be gained by showing two years of completed evaluations.
  • Standard 6.2b – Program faculty
    • REQUIREMENT: This standard expects that the College will employ a sufficient number of full-time faculty members to ensure curriculum and program quality, integrity, and review.
    • SPECIFIC CONCERN: Finding is specifically related to a concern with the number of overloads taught by full-time faculty and sufficient full-time faculty in a few specific programs.
    • CORRECTIVE ACTION: The College revised Policy F-III-E (Teaching Loads for Instructional Personnel) and it was implemented for the Spring 2022 semester. The College is evaluating and developing plans for a few specific programs that had questions related to sufficient full-time faculty.  The goal is to correct any areas that SACSCOC considers insufficient by the Fall 2022 semester.
    • SACSCOC FEEDBACK: SACSCOC indicated there is a 12-month monitoring required to be sure the institution is following the new policy and has hired faculty as indicated in our plan.  SACSCOC will also review whether we have sufficient full-time faculty for all programs.   

See a full description of the SACSCOC Board decision. 
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