TCC Receives Accreditation for Distance Learning Programs
NEW LEADERSHIP: Dyanne Jones, center, was recently inducted as a TCC Regent. With her is Thomas McKeon, left, new TCC president and chief executive officer, and Martin Garber, the new TCC Board of Regents chairman. TCC also announced that all of its distance learning academic programs have been fully accredited by the Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
JOHN HALL, Tulsa Community College
Thomas McKeon, Ed.D., the new president and chief executive officer of Tulsa Community College, recently announced that the College has received regional accreditation of its certificate and degree programs offered through distance learning.
TCC offers more academic credit online than any other public college or university in the state and is the first Oklahoma public college or university to receive accreditation of its distance learning degrees through the Higher Learning Commission. TCC has 30 certificate or degree programs offered entirely through online, telecourse, or interactive television mediums.
“TCC is a leader in the electronic delivery of curriculum,” says McKeon. “Our faculty and staff have a reputation for developing innovative delivery to students who desire higher education.”
“The full accreditation of our distance learning programs is a critical step in what we expect to be even stronger growth in this area of higher education instruction.”
The announcement was made at a regular meeting of the TCC Board of Regents. Dyanne Jones, director of the City of Tulsa Human Rights Department, was sworn in as a Regent for the Tulsa Community College Board of Regents at the meeting. Governor Brad Henry appointed Jones to the seven-year position.
Regent Martin Garber assumed the chairmanship of the Board of Regents, a post he will fill for one year.
Jones attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, and continued her education at Langston University. She has created and conducted affirmative action, equal education opportunity, fair housing, and minority business enterprise training programs on the local, state, and national levels and has received numerous civic and professional awards. She was recognized as one of the most influential women in Oklahoma in 2000.
A charter member of the Oklahoma Business Education Council, Garber was active in Citizens for Quality Education in Bartlesville and has organized statewide business forums on secondary education.
Garber has a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Oklahoma. He was an adjunct instructor at OU and a guest lecturer at Harvard University and the University of Texas.
Garber, president of Garber and Associates, a public and government relations consulting firm, is chairman of G & G Energy LLC, Garber Properties, and KKM Properties LLC. During his 34-year career with Phillips Petroleum Company, Garber served as manager of political affairs, federal relations representative, and assistant to the president for national outreach.
In his report to the Regents, McKeon informed them that TCC has received official notice that the Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools for the Higher Learning Commission has accredited the College’s distance learning certificate and degree programs.
According to the Commission, the high level of quality found in the review provides TCC the opportunity to develop more certificates and degrees through distance learning without having to ask for accreditation of each program.
John Kontogianes, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief academic officer at TCC, explained to the Regents that the national accreditation reflects the quality of the distance learning degrees offered at TCC and will ensure full articulation of the distance learning degrees with colleges and universities across the state and the nation.
TCC has nearly 6,000 enrollments in online classes alone in each of the fall and spring semesters. Its distance learning degree programs, for which the college received accreditation following an extensive focus study in the spring by a national NCA team, includes telecourses, interactive telecourses, and online curriculum delivery.
Some of the associate degrees offered through distance learning are in accounting, biology, business administration, child development, communications, education, engineering, geography, geology, international business, international studies, marketing, mathematics, physics, and social sciences.
TCC is ranked in the top three percent of more than 1,150 community colleges nationally in the number of associate degrees awarded in all disciplines. TCC ranks second nationally in associate degrees granted to Native American students.
The largest two-year college in Oklahoma, TCC serves approximately 27,000 students per year in credit classes and more than 5,000 students in corporate and industry training and continuing education classes. TCC information is available at www.tulsacc.edu.
Updated 08-26-2004
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