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Why is institutional accreditation important? What is UNMC’s mission? Where can I learn more about UNMC’s reaccreditation process? |
Faculty and staff are completing final preparations for the Jan. 8-10 site visit by seven members of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The site visit consultant-evaluators will meet with the campus community and assess UNMC’s standing for institution-wide reaccreditation.
“Accreditation is central to everything we do,” said John Benson, M.D., professor of internal medicine who is coordinating the reaccreditation efforts. “We cannot fulfill our academic mission without accreditation.”
A glowing report by HLC-NCA would complement the many accreditations of UNMC programs by national standard-setting agencies, Dr. Benson said.
An experienced group of consultant-evaluators will be at UNMC Jan. 8-10 to meet and assess UNMC’s accreditation status. If asked, faculty, staff and students should be prepared to share UNMC’s mission, as well as how their activities contribute to advancing the mission, Dr. Benson said.
The HLC-NCA site visit team is composed of:
- Team chair — Lynn Walker, Dr. PH, assistant to academic dean, registrar, education consortium liaison director, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.
- Donna McCarthy Becket, Ph.D., professor, School of Nursing, School of Medicine and Public Health University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- Mark Cummings, Ph.D., associate dean statewide campus system, Michigan State University.
- Victoria M. Flemming, Ph.D., director of education and faculty development in the Department of Medicine at Northwestern University.
- William R. Hendee, Ph.D., dean, graduate school of biomedical sciences and president, MCW Research Foundation, Medical College of Wisconsin.
- Steven Ludwig, vice president for administrative affairs, St. Cloud State University.
- Lisa Wallace, Ph.D., interim director, physician assistant program, Midwestern University.
The site visit team will meet with various campus leaders during its three-day visit. In addition, two open forums are planned for the campus community to welcome and meet with the site visit team. An open forum with students and post docs will be held Jan. 8 at 4 p.m. in the Eppley Science Hall Amphitheater. An open forum with faculty, residents and staff members is scheduled on Jan. 9 at 4 p.m. in the Durham Research Center, room 1002. Both forums will be broadcast to UNMC divisions in Lincoln, Kearney and Scottsbluff. Random encounters with the visitors in corridors are likely.
For those wanting one-on-one comments with the consultant-evaluators, an opportunity is provided at 3 p.m. on Jan. 8 in the McGoogan Library Study Rooms 7009 and 7010.
The complete schedule for the site visit is available online at www.unmc.edu/nca.
UNMC’s reaccreditation will be judged on five new criteria and 21 “core components.” Generally, the criteria involve UNMC’s mission and integrity in carrying out its mission; its focus on the future; its student learning and effective teaching; its research enterprise; and its community service. A final chapter documents UNMC’s distance education programs and seeks authority to expand them.
In preparation for the visit, UNMC recently released its 227-page self-study report, titled “Building a World-Renowned Health Science Center.” The report, which identifies UNMC’s compliance with the criteria in separate self-study chapters, also is available online at www.unmc.edu/nca.
The report is a window into UNMC’s academic offerings, as well as how its research, clinical and outreach activities impact higher education. It also outlines UNMC’s strengths, challenges and opportunities in fulfilling its mission.
For more information, visit UNMC’s reaccreditation Web site or visit past articles in UNMC Today, including the Dec. 6 article titled “Self-study report signals Jan. 8-10 site visit.”