Fletcher status elevated with accreditation

The recent accreditation of Fletcher Technical Community College in Houma means that students can now transfer to a number of four-year institutions within and outside of the U.S.

Fletcher received its initial Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation this summer. The accreditation will be retroactive in January 2009.

“This is certainly a milestone since we were made into a community technical college in 2003,” said Fletcher Chancellor F. Travis Lavigne Jr. “We have been working toward this for six years. It’s a culmination of our hard work.

“The accreditation is an affirmation of the commitment that our faculty, staff and administration have to providing quality education to our students and ultimately to the workforce in our community, ” he added.

Fletcher is an open-admission, two-year public institution of higher education that offers its students technical and academic programs.

The purpose of the school, Lavigne said, is to help prepare individuals for employment or career advancement.

The journey to Fletcher’s current status has been a long one, according to William Tulak, the community college’s vice chancellor of instruction. Fletcher administrators first applied for the accreditation in 2007.

“The process of earning an accreditation is tedious and long, but well worth it,” he said.

“It’s a great day for our short history and our long history as an institution.” Lavigne agreed. “Especially seeing that we started out as a trade school with the intention of becoming a premiere two-year institution in the state and the region.”

The new accreditation – Fletcher is also accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Council in Occupational Education – increases the number of credits students can transfer to bachelor’s degree programs.

Fletcher has long enjoyed an open agreement with Nicholls State University in which students can easily transfer courses. But the SACS COC accreditation, Lavigne said, puts Fletcher on a whole new level.

The college now has standing among the other two-year and four-year institutions in the 11 southern states – Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana.

Accreditation also eases Fletcher’s relations with Latin American institutions that award associate, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees, according to Tulak.

“Transferring to Nicholls was a breeze for most students,” he said. “But, for the out-of-state institutions, the SACS COC accreditation was important to build a relationship with them where our students can transfer to those top schools for continued educations.”

Fletcher’s prerequisite bachelor’s degree courses tend to receive the most transfer students, Tulak noted.

In the fall, the Houma-based college will offer an associate’s degree in general studies that will give students junior status at four-year colleges.

The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS COC) Board of Trustees granted initial accreditation to Fletcher Technical Community College. With SACS COC accreditation, the opportunity for students to transfer broadens to include private colleges and universities. * Photo courtesy of L.E. FLETCHER TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE