SUNO’s program earns accreditation

Despite facing incredible odds and adversity since Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of New Orleans more than nine years ago, the Crescent City’s only historically Black public university continues to rise to the challenges placed before it.

The Council for Accreditation of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) has granted accreditation to the Child Development and Family Studies Department at Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO). The accreditation is granted until 2024.

The Louisiana Board of Regents mandated SUNO to establish the Child Development and Family Studies (CDFS) program in January 2006 to address workforce development and community needs in the New Orleans area, which was facing recovery challenges in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. SUNO developed a program proposal that was granted a provisional approval within one year.

The program started in the Fall of 2007, with the hiring of Dr. Pamela E. Wanga as program director. Following highly satisfactory annual reports to the Board of Regents and successful external program review, the CDFS program was granted full approval status in Spring 2010. Enrollment and degree completer rates in the program have steadily exceeded projections for each year.

“I am highly elated and gratified to see a young program achieve this outstanding milestone,” Dr. Wanga said last week.
SUNO has been successful in every accreditation initiative embarked upon since 2006.

SUNO Chancellor Dr. Victor Ukpolo said, “It is especially remarkable that AAFCS acknowledged the CDFS for doing an excellent job of tracking and communicating with graduates.”

This article originally published in the December 8, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.