Student paleographers designed this logo for Union’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), an integral part of the university’s overall decennial accreditation review through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

The review is a two-year, community-wide initiative. The process was officially launched in June 2005 when the University’s leadership team traveled to Atlanta for orientation.

“Over these months, the university has reported on all matters of daily life and operations,” says University Provost Carla Sanderson.

She says the review included Union’s mission, board, leadership, finances, planning and assessment functions, library and technology support, physical facilities, and student life services. Of ultimate importance in the process is the evaluation of the qualifications and effectiveness of its faculty, academic processes, academic programs and quality of student learning.

The QEP provided new and compelling opportunities for Union to improve a program of the university’s choosing. The resulting plan is entitled Cultivating Minds: Enhancing the Honors Program at Union University.

A key goal of the QEP is to improve the program’s reach across departments and schools. In a typical academic year, about 180 freshmen are eligible to join the honors program, but only about 40 sign up and only eight remain until graduation.

“We are taking some of the best elements of the current program and expanding them into what will be a vibrant honors community that reaches across campus,” says Gene Fant, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and a leader in the QEP discussions. “Students will continue to be exposed to a breadth of knowledge across the academic disciplines and to a stronger depth of knowledge within their disciplines.

“These conversations across and within academic fields will be carried out within the context of the Christian intellectual tradition's emphasis on the lordship of Christ, the unity of knowledge, and the importance of community,” Fant said.

“The QEP promises to be transformational in the way academically talented students will pursue curricular and co-curricular learning at Union University,” Sanderson said.

The first phase of the QEP will begin this fall and full implementation is scheduled for no later than August 2009.