55 2013 Board of Directors releases The CCAS Standards of Practice, a guide for assessing best practices in colleges/schools of Arts & Sciences In a survey on distance education, Dean Chris McCord finds that in CCAS colleges of Arts and Sciences, it is still a fairly small presence, dominated by stand- alone online courses. The greatest concerns of deans involve financial models to support distance education and how to motivate and incentivize faculty participation All 52 States & Territories are included in CCAS membership, along with institutions in six other countries A Self-Assessment Guide for Colleges of Arts & Sciences www.ccas.net STANDARDS PRACTICE OF NOVEMBER 2013 Mary Anne T. FITZPATRICK UNIVERSITY of SOUTH CAROLINA CCAS is designed to help deans exercise effective leadership within their college and to advocate nationally on behalf of the liberal arts. During my term, one of the few issues on which there seemed to be widespread bipartisan support was the uselessness of a liberal arts education. Governors of major states threatened to cut funding for liberal arts programs in publicly funded institutions, and President Obama made derogatory remarks about art history degrees. In this milieu, I decided that my administration would work to strengthen the association in the interest of insuring its long term success and viability as an advocate for liberal education. The Board spent the year critically analyzing our processes and structures and developed important and necessary changes in our operations. CCAS is a stronger organiza- tion for these efforts. 2012-2013 An analysis of organizational structures for Colleges/Schools of Arts and Sciences reveals that over 120 different names are used for colleges/schools that house the A&S 2014