Professor of English and Quality Initiative Leader Katherine Eggert
My name is Katherine Eggert, professor of English and Quality Initiative leader for the University of Colorado Boulder, and I would like to take a little time to let you know about the university's reaccreditation process.
Over a 10-year cycle, CU Boulder works with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), one of six regional accreditors in the U.S., on quality assurance and institutional improvements for reaffirmation of accreditation. The current 10-year reaccreditation cycle concludes in 2019–20, but work has already begun.
William Kaempfer, senior vice provost and associate vice chancellor for budget and planning, leads the campus’ accreditation process. I, along with Robert Stubbs, director of institutional research in the Office of Data Analysis, am assisting Kaempfer throughout this process.
The HLC, a non-profit agency that reports to the U.S. Department of Education, accredits all post-secondary institutions in 19 states geographically located in the center of the United States. This campus review differs from professional or programmatic accreditation, such as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) for the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Through accreditation, the HLC confirms an institution meets five criteria for accreditation. CU Boulder must show it:
- Has a clearly articulated mission that guides its operations,
- Acts with integrity and conducts itself ethically and responsibly,
- Provides high-quality education across all delivery methods,
- Takes responsibility for the quality of educational programs, assessing student learning and measuring retention and graduation rate outcomes using processes to promote continuous improvement and
- Has sufficient resources, structures and processes to fulfill its mission and plans for the future.
In addition, the HLC confirms the institution complies with federal requirements for everything from financial aid to maintaining student records. The process culminates with a peer review by a team of subject area experts that visits campus in spring 2020.
A new feature of HLC accreditation is that an institution may undertake a self-designed improvement project, the “Quality Initiative.”
For our Quality Initiative, CU Boulder is focusing on a project tied to student success and retention goals. The aim is to create a flexible, adaptable kit of surveys and measuring tools for use by any academic unit or support program to assess whether its efforts help undergraduate students to continue with and complete their degrees.
The campus will pilot some aspects of the Quality Initiative in select academic units in 2017–18 and then roll out the project in phases through the Academic Review and Planning Advisory Committee (ARPAC) schedule for program review. When the team of external reviewers visits campus in spring 2020, the progress of the Quality Initiative will be a major focus.
A soon-to-be-finalized faculty steering committee will help guide the Quality Initiative, and if you wish to participate in the steering committee, please email me at Katherine.Eggert@colorado.edu.
We will provide progress updates to the campus on a semester basis, but you may always email Kaempfer or myself if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.
Katherin Eggert,
Professor of English and Quality Initiative Leader
