TRACS Conference

This years TRACS annual conference was held at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. TRACS is the body that accredits PIU and is recognized by both the United States Department of Education, and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, as a national accrediting body for Christian institutions, colleges, universities, and seminaries. PIU was granted candidate status with TRACS in 1999 and we became a fully accredited category II institution (undergraduate) institution in 2004. In 2009 our accreditation was affirmed and we were upgraded to a category III institution with the addition of our seminary. While I was at the conference I realized that this was the tenth TRACS conference that I have attended. TRACS has been an important factor in the forward steps PIU has made in the last ten years.

Probably the most productive aspect of the conference is the opportunity to interact with other schools and hear how they are working through the similar issues that we face. This year I thought the seminars were also particularly helpful. The TRACS administration has also been quite responsive and helpful to us recently. In addition, the food and desserts  (pictured) are always good. Accreditation is a lot of work but the effort has been well worth it.