| Home | View FCS Programs| View All Institutions and Types |View Contacts |TFPA-WIS Totals | Administrator/Authorized User Login |
TFPA-WIS Glossary and Reference Guide | Email the Webmaster at: dsmithdevelopment@comcast.net | TFPA-WIS Website Comments |

TFPA-WIS Glossary and Reference Guide

glossary word document.doc
(right-click and select "Save Target As..." or you can open the file itself.
If you are prompted with a username and password select cancel)

| Carnegie Classification Look-Up Resource || Carnegie Classification Category Descriptions |

Note for the above classification links: This database uses two institution classification systems:
1) Carnegie Classifications
2) A system unique to this particular database that requires some institutions to have two classifications, e.g. Private, HBCU. So an institution could have three classifications in total (systems 1 & 2), for example:
1) RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity)
2) Private, HBCU.


Institution Type Look-up Table
1862 = Land-Grant
1890 = Land-Grant African American (HBCU)
D = Doctoral
P = Private Sectarian
PR = Private Religious
SU = State Non-Land Grant
U = Undergraduate
HBCU = Historically Black College or University
HSI = Hispanic Serving Institution
1994 = Land-Grant Native American
CU = City University
UST = United States Territory

1.1     Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

AAFCS is the acronym for the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

AAFCS-CHEA represents the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences FCS program accreditation that is approved by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

AAMFT is the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy which certifies higher education programs preparing professionals in this specialization.

ADA-CADE is the American Dietetics Association-Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education which accredits higher education programs.

BoHS is the acronym for the Board on Human Sciences that has members who are FCS administrators in land-grant and state, colleges, and universities.

CAFCS is the acronym for the Council of Administrators of Family and Consumer Sciences that has individual members who can be employed by any type of higher education institution having an FCS program.

CFLE stands for Certified Family Life Educator.  The CLFE is sponsored by National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). It is the only national program to certify family life educators.  Applicants are professionals with course work and experience in family life education including formal teaching, community education, curriculum and resource development, health care, military family support, counseling, and ministry.

Colleges are the database’s designation for two types of units within a university, (e.g. Colleges can be College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, College of Arts and the College of Human Sciences) that is a stand alone FCS college or a college in which your FCS unit resides. This unit can also be a non-university institution such as Meredith College or Framingham State College.

Departments are units within a college (by either definition above). It also can be a unit within a school or division, which is an intermediate structure within a college and larger than a department. An example is the Department of Nutrition or Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Doctoral Institutions are institutions that award at least 10 doctoral degrees per year across three or more disciplines, or at least 20 doctoral degrees per year over all.

FAEIS is the acronym for the Food and Agriculture Extension Information System project.  Its mission is to gather and compile a broad range of higher education information related to the food and agricultural sciences, including Human Sciences/Family and Consumer Sciences. FAEIS provides empirical information for use in planning, benchmarking, and coordinating efforts, directed towards supporting higher education in the food, agricultural and natural resource sciences. As a comprehensive system, it offers an accessible resource for faculty, higher education administrators, government officials, industry professionals, and the general public to strengthen higher education programs in the food, agricultural and natural resource sciences (FAEIS Peer Panel; July 16, 2003).

FCS is the acronym for Family and Consumer Science. It refers to units by any of a number of names related to the profession of FCS and its specializations. In some FCS units there are non-FCS programs such as Social Work, and/or Exercise Science.

CIDA (Previous organization name: FIDER) is the acronym for the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research that sets standards for education and accredits academic programs that meet those standards.

HBCU is “any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secrecy [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation” (Amended Higher Education Act of 1965) 

HEU is the Higher Education Unit of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS).  Its members are FCS higher education units, whereas CAFCS and BOHS have individual administrator members.

Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) is a national educational association that represents colleges and universities committed to Hispanic higher education success in the United States (including Puerto Rico), Latin America, and Spain . HACU has 193 member Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) located in 11 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. To be considered a Hispanic-Serving Institution, the Hispanic enrollment at a college or university must be at least 25 percent of the total student enrollment.

Institutes or Interdisciplinary Programs are units that involve more than one college in a university. 

NAEYC is an acronym for the National Association for the Education of Young Children Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation.  It administers a national, voluntary accreditation system to help raise the quality of all types of preschools, kindergartens, and child care centers.

NASAD is the acronym for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. It is the national accrediting agency for art and design and art and design-related disciplines. It establishes national standards for undergraduate and graduate degrees and other credentials.

NCATE stands for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. It is the teacher education profession’s mechanism to help establish high quality teacher preparation by granting professional accreditation to schools, colleges and departments of education.  FCS teacher education programs, whether or not they are located in a higher education institution’s education unit, can be accredited by NCATE as a part of that unit’s accreditation.      

NCFR stands for The National Council on Family Relations provides a forum for family researchers, educators, and practitioners to share in the development and dissemination of knowledge about families and family relationships, establishes professional standards, and works to promote family well-being.

Institution Types is this database’s designation for institution classifications.  They are 1862 land-grant universities, 1890 land-grant universities, 1994 land-grant universities, state non-land-grant colleges and universities, city colleges and universities, private sectarian colleges and universities, private religious colleges and universities.  The following classifications are overlapping with the first set of categories: undergraduate institutions, doctoral institutions, Historically Black Colleges or Universities, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

Programs are academic units within a department.

Centers are the particular academic units within a department, involving more than one department within the same FCS unit.

Schools or Divisions are unit structures intermediate between Colleges and Departments.

Stand alone FCS unit is this database’s designation for an FCS college.

State Certifications is the database name for state-certified FCS teacher education programs.

TFPA stands for the Task Force for Program Advancement, a cross-organizational Task Force on Program Advancement in FCS higher education units. 

TFPA-WIS is acronym for the TFPA Web Interface System, and this also includes a system database.

Undergraduate Institutions are undergraduate higher education institutions with primary emphasis on baccalaureate degree programs.

Unit is a generic term for one aspect of an institutional structure such as Institutes or Interdisciplinary Programs, Colleges, Schools or Divisions, Departments, Programs or Centers, or Options.

USDA stands for the United States Department of Agriculture.

Home | View FCS Programs | View All Institutions and Types |View Contacts |TFPA-WIS Totals | Administrator/Authorized User Login | TFPA-WIS Glossary and Reference Guide | Email the Webmaster at: dsmithdevelopment@comcast.net | TFPA-WIS Website Comments |

Hit Counter