The business program at OCCC has won reaffirmation from a national organization, said Dean Anne DeClouette, even though she won’t receive the official notification until summer.

The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs recently approved OCCC’s proposal for reaccreditation.

DeClouette said this process was “very complex.”

The week prior to spring break, three ACBSP personnel visited campus in accordance with the site visit portion of the reaffirmation process.

DeClouette said she and her staff made all the arrangements to ensure the time spent here was efficiently used.

While on campus, the ACBSP site visitors were thoroughly impressed with the department, DeClouette said. In the exit interview, she recalled that they were “impressed by the caliber of our faculty.”

The business department’s faculty consists of many well-qualified and ethnically diverse professors, she said.

Receiving accreditation through ACBSP makes OCCC’s business division the only two-year college in the metropolitan area that meets such a standard.

DeClouette said this accreditation is “the good housekeeping seal of approval.” Schools seeking continued accreditation must go through the reaffirmation process every 10 years.

Accreditation is not obligatory. DeClouette said she and her staff chose to undergo this strenuous process.

“Students can continue to trust and believe that the classes…here are of the highest quality,” she said.

“I am thrilled to work with such professionals that are willing to go the extra step and be accredited.”

One of these staff members was Dr. Germain Pichop, professor of business and economics.

Pichop serves as a site visitor for ACBSP. DeClouette called him “a very good resource.”

Pichop’s prior involvement proved to be helpful in the successful site visit, as well as the preparation leading up to it, DeClouette said.

The business department is proud of the successful reaccreditation, DeClouette said. The staff plans to use this reaffirmation as a tool for recruiting in the upcoming fall semester when the college reaches out to the business community in the metropolitan area.

“Our success shouldn’t be a secret,” she said.

Although DeClouette was informed via telephone that the business program has been reaffirmed, the official documents have not yet arrived. Upon their arrival, DeClouette plans to prepare a series of press releases in order to further publicize the successful reaffirmation.

The reaffirmation will be officially announced to a larger audience at the annual ACBSP conference on June 12 in Philadelphia.