Since the last Accreditation Update in mid-June we’ve reached several more important goals. We finished our Assurance Argument on June 29 (although tweaking remains an ongoing process), just two days short of our original “soft” deadline of July 1. Considering that we set that deadline more than 1 1/2 years ago, not knowing exactly what it would involve, I feel this was a remarkable feat that involved the cooperation of many contributors from the Steering Committee, Sub-committees, and many faculty and staff members from all across campus. I thank God for all of you and for your willing hearts and able hands to serve our Lord in this way. Although the “hard” deadline is still down the road a bit, we feel that, if pressed to do so, we could submit what we have in hand today and be at peace with it.
We’ve also notified constituents of our plans for Re-affirmation of Accreditation through the HLC required Public Notice for Comment. We placed the notice on the University Facebook page on June 23 and in the Dayton Daily News from July 2-8. We sent emails to current undergraduate and graduate students on June 26 and to alumni and donors on July 6. This required notice informs interested parties that they can submit comments about Cedarville University directly to the HLC. These comments will be taken into consideration by the Site Reviewers.
Four HLC Peer Reviewers have been reviewing our Assurance Argument and Federal Compliance Report and are preparing for a Mock Site Visit and Review Aug. 10-11. We are hoping to gain much from their expert advice. For those of you in administrative positions of leadership, please keep these dates open for possible meetings with the Mock Review team. Mr. Tom Betcher, Director of Assessment and Accreditation Services, is coordinating these meetings. Please contact him if you have any questions.
Mid-July brings us closer to the “drive to the cadence,” as we say in Music, and we are putting final touches on our preparations for the Site Visit in October. I’d like to offer a few reminders to add to your checklist as you prepare for the new academic year.
- Faculty, if you haven’t completed your portfolio in CAPS, please do so!
- Faculty, your Chair or Dean has sent or will be sending you a list of NEW minimum requirements for syllabi. This is very important for Accreditation and the Federal Compliance Report, so please update your syllabi to include this information. We have used syllabi as evidence in many places in our Argument. For the Site Visit in October, we need to have a file of complete, adequate, and correct syllabi for ALL courses.
- Please update your websites to reflect current and correct information.
- Please update your department bulletin boards and make sure that all information posted around your office area is current, correct, neat, and (yes) attractive.
- Please make sure that any physical brochures you make available to the public are up-to-date and in adequate numbers.
- Re-acquaint yourself with the Mission and Portrait Statements. We are preparing a Pocket Card for each of you in order to assist with this. It will be distributed on Aug. 12 in conjunction with the Faculty and Staff Sessions, and includes basic information about who we are, what our students value, and how we plan for the future (i.e. our Strategic Plan).
- YES, WE ASSESS. Every level, every office, every member. Know the assessment process in your area. Be aware of how your area learns from assessment and makes improvements based on assessment data. Be able to comment on at least one good example of improvement in your area based on assessment.
Finally, thanks to web services, we’ve added another location to view this blog. You can now find us as a Quick Link on the Faculty/Staff Homepage. The blog continues its regular location on the Assessment and Accreditation Services website.
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