NWU Accreditation Process on Track for Spring 2010

A faculty and staff steering committee at Nebraska Wesleyan University has recently filed a report for an accreditation process that has not taken place since 2000. The evaluation, performed on a self-study basis over a period of several years, will culminate this spring semester with an on-site visit from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

NWU has been accredited by the HLC since 1914. Despite this long tradition, the process of earning accreditation is not something to be taken lightly. This distinction qualifies the university to offer federal financial aid to students and to maintain a viable reputation among other institutions of higher education.

To fulfill the requirements of the HLC, the steering committee must respond to a set of suggestions posed after the previous campus visit and meet certain criteria. Additionally, it must submit a report on the perceived compliance of the university with these goals.

Since the last visit to NWU in 2000, the university has addressed issues like the simplification of faculty governance and workload, campus security, the tailoring of assessment purposes to fit core academic achievement outcomes, enrollment fluctuation and the expansion of the graduate program.

According to Committee Co-Chair Patrick Hayden-Roy, the university has put in place several processes in response to these concerns. For instance, NWU greatly enhanced the campus's security and reorganized its governance structures.

The most significant change was to the university's assessment program. Since passing the No Child Left Behind Act the federal government has threatened to put into place similar assessment requirements in higher education. Therefore, the North Central Association has been very scrupulous in assuring that the region's schools fulfill the needs they say they do.

"Meeting the assessment requirements is always the greatest challenge for comparable schools in Nebraska, so we've been working hard to address this component," said Hayden-Roy. One of the recent changes was the implementation of a critical thinking test for first year students and seniors.

This assessment allows the university to compare a student's individual progress after four years of higher education, as well as permits a cross-consortium comparison of students.

In addition to responding to the above issues, the steering committee has established acting sub-committees to ensure the university's development in five critical areas. These include adherence to and understanding of NWU's mission, preparation for the future, fulfillment of the educational mission of student learning and teaching effectiveness, the promotion of the acquisition, discovery and application of knowledge and involvement in service to all of the university's constituencies. Each sub-committee must evaluate the university's compliance with its criterion and prepare a report for inclusion in the official self-study report.

Assistant Dean of Institutional Effectiveness Bette Olson has led the organization of this undertaking. She devised a two-and-a-half year scheme that gave the sub-committees targets for bringing together material evidence to prove NWU's compliance with each requirement. Hayden-Roy commented, "This system has put us in an excellent position in the process of accreditation."

Indeed, the 350-page self-assessment has been completed and was submitted to the Higher Learning Commission in December. The next step in the process will be a two-day visit from Feb. 15-17. The committee will organize the schedule based on the interests of the visitors, but the schedule will also include random interviews.