American regional accreditation serves two basic functions: quality assurance and quality improvement. Through its public function of quality assurance, accreditation signals to prospective students, parents, employers, and others that the institution meets fundamental standards of quality. Through its private function of quality improvement,…

California's vast Central Valley has been called "the Appalachia of California" and "the Other California." Long neglected as either irrelevant or hopeless, the Central Valley has become the focus of government and private philanthropists who understand the growing importance of this region to the state and the nation. The…

Accreditation fosters academic freedom as a condition of academic quality. Accreditation depends on academic freedom to secure reliable institutional self-evaluation and planning, by according faculty the freedom to present their informed judgments about professional matters without reprisal. (MSE)

Economic wellness, a new economic development approach, will require continuing education's commitment to using the full range of the university's instructional and analytical capabilities to meet needs of communities, neighborhoods, and even regional groups. This implies a more comprehensive mission for the university's continuing education unit…