St. Catherine University is currently in the process of preparing for its ten-year accreditation site visit from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a regional agency that accredits more than 1,022 institutions in 19 states.
The HLC representative assigned to St. Kate’s, Karen Solomon, visited in November of 2010 to meet and advise administrators and faculty. She said that HLC has confidence in St. Kate’s; the University has financial stability, managed growth, and strong planning.
During her visit, Solomon suggested that the University could create a modified self-study that would inform administrator and faculty work beyond the site visit. Other options include:
· A traditional self- study that addresses criteria one by one,
· A thematic self-study utilizing the HLC crosscutting themes
· Creating a St. Kate’s-specific theme or a special emphasis self-study.
Accreditation at St. Kate’s
St. Kate’s last accreditation site visit was 2003 and resulted in full re-accreditation. St. Catherine University is scheduled to have a site visit in winter 2013.
As defined by HLC, the self-study is a reflective process on how the campus community perceives its mission and institutional identity. The HLC Committee will be drawing from data, reports and other documents from multiple offices and departments across both campuses. Community involvement, cooperation and engagement will be essential to ensure a complete self-study report and successful site visit.
HLC criteria has a strong emphasis on student learning, especially curricular and co-curricular learning and presents an opportunity to talk about how students learn, not just how St. Kate’s serves students. This will include what the institution wants students to learn and how they become engaged, and how the institution wants them to be engaged.
Looking ahead
Immediately following the winter 2013 site visit, St. Catherine University will become part of HLC’s Pathways project.