U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Management Department here will keep its business certification after an evaluation by a worldwide academic business accreditation association this year.
Robert Reid, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the longest-serving accrediting body for business schools offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in business and accounting, said the association evaluated the department’s curriculum, research programs and dedication to stakeholders.
"It takes a great deal of commitment and determination to earn and maintain AACSB Accreditation," Reid said. "Business schools must not only meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculty, and professional staff must make a commitment to ongoing continuous improvement to ensure the institution will continue to deliver the highest quality of education to students."
The AACSB conducted a cursory visit of the department in August and a formal visit in February.
Col. Troy Harting, head of the Management Department, said his staff is dedicated to continual improvement to better fulfill the Air Force Academy’s mission of developing leaders of character.
"We're focused on continuing to improve our educational programs and ensuring we offer graduates the skills and perspectives to succeed, whether they complete a career in the Air Force or decide to contribute to our nation in other ways,” he said. “This external validation by AACSB helps us gauge where we are relative to other management and business programs and keeps us involved in international conversations on best practices."
Lt. Col Brian Payne, associate professor in the Management Department, said the department earned its AACSB accreditation in 2001.
“Since then, we’ve had two successful maintenance-of-accreditation visits in 2011 and this year,” Payne said. “We will have been AACSB-accredited for 20 years when we receive our next visit 2021.”
The AACSB International was founded in 1916 and its accreditation standards adopted in 1919. Seven-hundred-fifty-five business schools in 51 countries and territories maintain AACSB accreditation, according to the association’s organization website.