Accreditation Update: Countdown to Campus Visit

Coming soon to a UC campus mailbox near you – an executive summary of the University of Cincinnati’s comprehensive self-study report to the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (HLC/NCA).

Next week, 15,000 copies of the executive summary will be distributed across campus in preparation for the campus visit by a 12-member team of HLC/NCA peer evaluators. That visit takes place April 27-29, with a special reception on April 26.

The executive summary of the university’s self-study is currently available for viewing and printing from the UC self-study Web site. The document summarizes the 214-page comprehensive report that tells the story of a decade of transformation of the new urban research university. The summary reviews how UC is meeting the national standards for quality and accountability for re-accreditation in the following five areas:

• Mission and Integrity
• Preparing for the Future
• Student Learning and Effective Teaching
• Acquisition, Discovery and Application of Knowledge
• Engagement and Service

During the campus visit, team members will tour the campus and different offices and centers, speak and meet with students, faculty, staff, administrators and representatives of the community, and review a special resource room holding materials supporting the self-study. The resource room will be located in Room 400-A of Tangeman University Center (TUC).

The university is coordinating 72 meetings with the consultant/evaluators during the campus visit with 350 invited members of the UC community. In addition, the national accreditation team will lead open forums with UC students, faculty and staff. Those forums will be held from 4-5 p.m., Monday, April 27, in Tangeman University Center (TUC). The forum with faculty will be held in Room 400-B TUC and the forum with UC staff will be held in Room 400-C TUC. The student forum will be held in Room 425 TUC.

The members representing the national team of consultant evaluators are:

• Celestino Fernández, team chair and a professor of sociology at the University of Arizona. Fernández has served on accreditation review teams throughout the United States as well as internationally.
• Richard L Alfred, professor of higher education, University of Michigan
• Ingrid Gould, associate provost for faculty and student affairs, The University of Chicago
• Richard D. Howell, associate dean for research, College of Education, University of New Mexico
• James H. Larson, professor and chairperson of sociology, University of North Dakota
• Nancy McCarthy Snyder, associate professor of public administration, Wichita State University
• Jean McEnery, director of assessment and professor of management, College of Business, Eastern Michigan University
• Harvey Perlman, chancellor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Douglas M. Priest, associate vice provost, Indiana University Bloomington
• Karen Pugliesi, vice provost for undergraduate studies, Northern Arizona University
• Dorothy Simpson-Taylor, director of diversity resources, University of Iowa
• Promod Vohra, dean and professor of engineering, Northern Illinois University

In addition to the executive summary of the self-study, the UC self-study Web site holds the comprehensive report that is currently under review by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, as well as an institutional snapshot of the university, a federal compliance report, and information about the university’s budget and audit statements from fiscal years 2004-2009.

The commission will issue its report on the university in summer 2009 and will announce any action and recommendation for continued accreditation in fall 2009.

UC/Self-Study Web Site

E-mail: hlc@uc.edu
Phone: 513-556-1040