Happy New Year! 

I hope you're all doing well, and that the semester is starting off with a positive bang! 

By now, we should have all received notification that our reapplication for participation in SARA has been approved. Please let me know if you need assistance in completing the process. 

At this point, we’re all focused on continued research or the annual updates regarding professional licensure regulations and program applicability. Don’t forget that compliance with these regulations from the Department of Education and NC-SARA requires a documented process for reviewing and applying our institutional procedures. There’s no single “right” way to manage state authorization and professional licensure documentation on our campuses, but ensuring that you document the process—including responsibilities, timelines, and other details—is a key component of these regulations. 

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to co-host a series of online sessions with Heather DeLange from CDHE and Lisa Grimes from UNC on the overlap between professional licensure and state authorization. Thank you to those who attended! I hope it was helpful. For those who were interested but unable to attend, you can access the slidess here.

Speaking of opportunities to learn more - NC-SARA has several webinars coming up that relate to various aspects of our work. These include webinars on their new Salesforce system, tracking student location, proposed NC-SARA policy modifications, and the annual webinar on Data Reporting and related changes. The Data Reporting webinar, in particular, should be of great interest, as it is expected to cover how COVID has likely impacted our reporting. All of these webinars are free and open to everyone, so feel free to invite your supervisors—especially to the sessions on tracking students and data reporting—so that the scope of this work is better understood and recognized.

If you’re looking for a new book to start the year, and want an in-depth look at state authorization and how we got to where we are in 2021, I highly recommend State Authorization of Colleges and Universities - Second Edition, edited by Alan Contreras. The Second Edition includes updates from the First Edition, including a chapter on the federal actions in 2020 and their interwoven complexities. It also offers excellent advice that we’ve discussed before, which is worth repeating: the necessary upkeep and periodic review of state authorization and related issues. Specifically, “Institutions need to allocate resources for keeping abreast of changes and build action plans for review and compliance into their regulatory efforts” (p. 89). 

As always, if you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out! 

Have a wonderful week!

Erika

Erika G. Swain
Interim Assistant Director for State Authorization
Office of Academic Affairs
University of Colorado System
e: swaine@cu.edu
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Assistant Director for Compliance and Authorization
Office of Data Analytics | Office of Institutional Research
University of Colorado Boulder
e: Erika.Swain@colorado.edu
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o: (303) 735-8184
c: (518) 637-9785