MTSU students have until Oct. 21 to showcase their visual creative skills and submit the winning logo to represent the university’s next Quality Enhancement Plan.

The Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP, is an accreditation review requirement of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the South.

According to the accrediting association, widely known as SACS, the QEP “describes a carefully designed course of action that addresses a well-defined and focused topic or issue related to enhancing student learning and/or the environment supporting student learning and accomplishing the mission of the institution.”

Click on the image for more details and a printable entry form.

MTSU’s previous QEP centered on Experiential Learning, a highly successful initiative in which the university emphasized hands-on activities and public service as an integral part of a student’s learning experience.

The next proposed QEP — which is still being developed by a committee representing a cross-section of faculty, staff and students — involves students in active learning and critical reflection. This would be accomplished “by creating a culture of engagement emphasizing within the classroom and beyond the classroom experiences and reflecting on these experiences within an ePortfolio that showcases the knowledge, skills and abilities achieved.”

The theme for MTSU’s new QEP is “MT Engage: Engage Academically, Learn Exponentially and Showcase Yourself.” Participants of the logo design contest are asked to use the three different sections of the theme as a guideline for creating their own logo. Organizers said it is important for the logo to capture the theme of the entire QEP in a single visual.

Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. Oct. 21. For more information, rules and regulations, visit www.mtsu.edu/logocontest or send an email with subject line “logo contest” to qep@mtsu.edu.

MTSU has been working closely with Dr. Tricia Farwell’s fall advertising campaigns class to help plan the logo contest and kick-off event. The students enrolled in the course make up a team that includes: Chad Jones, Sonia Torres, Laura Moore, Taylor Sloan, Courtney Webb, Grace Mueller and Morgan Mosley.

“Our team is heavily involved in this campaign and we are excited to see the positive impact of our hard work in the final outcome of this wonderful opportunity we’ve been given,” student Sonia Torres said.

The top three logos will be showcased at a university wide event at 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, on the Student Union Commons.

Voting will take place during the event and the logo an MTSU student designs could be selected as the official logo for MTSU’s QEP. In addition the top three logo designers will receive a gift card award.

“We are really glad that MTSU has allowed our class to be a part of this,” said student Morgan Mosley. “We are excited to see what kind of creative logos our fellow students can come up with. It is cool how students are given the opportunity to leave their mark on our school.”

For more information about MTSU’s QEP, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/QEP/.