Message from the Office of the President: Oct. 29 update

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this message finds you all well! If there is one message I am hearing consistently, it is how busy things are, which is a great sign of the vitality of our College. We have a number of updates for you today.

Assessment Academy News

CSS has now successfully completed the HLC Assessment Academy program! We began this program in 2017 as a way to strengthen our college’s ability to assess our student learning outcomes and take action based on these results to improve student success. As a result of our Assessment Academy team’s work, we now have five College Learning Outcomes that span our entire institution, we have assessed these outcomes and developed action plans, we have improved our program level assessment processes, and we have a much better institutional understanding of how we can use our assessment data to improve student success. Many thanks to everyone who has served on this group over the past four years. We are currently developing a plan that will help us sustain our successes into the future.

PA Medicine program receives full “accreditation – continued”

The College received wonderful news this week with a letter from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA) informing the College that

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Continued status to The College of St. Scholastica PA Medicine Program sponsored by The College of St. Scholastica. Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards.

This final action is the successful culmination of more than a decade of work. The process began with submission of a formal Prospectus to the President’s Staff in 2010. This was followed by preparation of an extensive Feasibility Study required to begin the accreditation review process. The program submitted an Application for Provisional Accreditation in 2016, literally hundreds of pages of application and supporting evidence. The ARC-PA conducts three provisional visits, each requiring submission of a full application and supporting evidence of compliance with the Standards, and successful student outcomes. The initial Provisional Site visit was in the fall of 2016. The resulting action by the ARC-PA in the spring of 2017 found full compliance with the Standards, and gave approval to matriculate the first cohort of 28 students in the fall of 2017. The faculty, staff, students and community stakeholders all participated in a “Provisional Monitoring” application and site visit in June of 2019, and the “Final Provisional” application and virtual site visit in April of 2021, which led to this week’s action by the ARC-PA.

This momentous achievement which earned a ten-year status of “Accreditation-Continued” was the result of a true community effort. The College owes a debt of gratitude to the visionary leaders in the community who identified the need for a rural and primary-care focused PA program. The initial cohort of students entrusted their future careers to the College and the talented team of PAs, physicians, and staff who shared the vision of a successful PA program to serve the region. Members of this first cohort have now been in practice for two years, and have been instrumental in demonstrating high quality practice and professionalism that justified the Community’s confidence in the College.

Please join in congratulating the faculty and staff, the students, and community advisory board members for their success!

Athletics updates

The busy overlap season kicks in full gear this week as fall sports wind down and winter sports get going for real. The Soccer and Volleyball Teams make a final push to get a MIAC postseason spot in this final week of the regular season. The Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams compete at the MIAC Championships Saturday in Northfield.

Saints at home this weekend

• Men’s Soccer will be at Saints Field in the regular season finale on Saturday vs. #10 St. Olaf at 2 p.m.

• The Volleyball team will host Augsburg Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Reif in its regular season finale as it will also be Senior Night

• Men’s Hockey opens its season at Mars Lakeview this weekend, hosting Concordia Wisconsin this evening and Bridge Rival UW-Superior Saturday night. Both are 7 p.m. starts.

• Reminder, free admission for all CSS home events for students and staff with Saints ID.

Congratulations to Volleyball’s Alcia Draper, who became the first CSS Athlete to be named MIAC Athlete of the Week multiple times this fall. Draper leads all of NCAA Division III in digs per set (6.85).

A call to action from JED Campus

October is Substance Use Prevention month. In an effort to stop addiction, our Jed Campus Team encourages you to dispose of unwanted and unused medications this month. Clean out those cabinets, pick up a deactivation packet and throw unused medications in the trash. SafeProject disposal packets are located around campus or in Health Services. Many thanks to the Clinical and Substance Use Working Group for organizing this project on our campus.

Thank you for the many blessings you give to one another each day, and for leading with kindness and appreciation. Be safe and stay well. Enjoy the weekend!

Barbara