University of Mary Washington Business School taps brass in accreditation effort

FREDERICKSBURG — University of Mary Washington’s College of Business has been trying to gain accreditation for the last seven years.

On October 18, UMW’s College of Business hosted former interim Secretary of the U.S. Navy Sean Stackley at an executive breakfast meeting for students, faculty, alumni, and members of the local business community. The university hopes more engagements like these will help further it’s path to accreditation.

Stackley served in the Navy for over thirty years, during that time he served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition from July 2008 until August 2017. He served as interim Secretary from January 2017 until his resignation in August that year.

In early 2018, Stackley transitioned from public service to private enterprise when he joined defense and aerospace company L3 Technologies. He was made corporate Vice President and soon began leading their Communications and Networked Systems segment.

Stackley talked about his time in the Navy, including his service under three presidential administrations.

UMW’s School of Business opened in 2011 and has never received accreditation.

It is not unusual for a business school to operate without accreditation. According to GetEducated.com’s National Ranking Survey of Online MBAs, less than 30% of business and accounting schools in the country do not have this certification.

It takes, on average, four to five years to gain this certificate.

While not having this certification doesn’t mean the school is of poor quality, AACSB’s website claims that having the accreditation is considered a mark of excellence in the industry. Although, according to GetEducated.com, such a mark is not a guarantee of good quality either. For a comparative example, the certificate is like a great rating for a restaurant in the Zagut or Michelin guides, the better the rating, the more prestige is given.

Dr. Lynne Richardson is the current vice president for Administration and Finance for UMW. She was also the inaugural dean of the College of Business when it opened in 2011 and plans to return to that position in January 2019.

Richardson states in an email to Potomac Local:

“AACSB International accreditation is a very time-consuming process. It requires that schools meet 15 high standards. To earn this accreditation schools of business must meet expectations in the areas of strategic management and innovation, participants (students, faculty and professional staff), learning and teaching, and academic and professional engagement. This is a multi-faceted, multi-year process and there are steps along the way that must be met. We submitted our eligibility application in 2013 and had a peer review team (composed of deans of three public institutions with liberal arts focus) in Fall 2018. We are awaiting two more approvals (the Initial Accreditation Committee and the AACSB International Board of Directors). Accreditation will not be granted until all approvals are met.”

The university is pursuing is from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. The AACSB is a voluntary, non-governmental accrediting agency that has been in operation since 1916. They oversee the standardization of collegiate business and accounting schools in the U.S.