HLC Bulletin: February 2023

"HLC Bulletin"

FEBRUARY 2023

In This Issue:

  • HLC Committees Represent a Wide Cross-Section of the University Community
  • Committees Focus on Evidence Collection & Areas Needing Improvement
  • Video: HLC and Specialized Accreditation: A Jayhawks Rising Core Foundation

HLC Committees Represent a Wide Cross-Section of the University Community

The reaffirmation of accreditation process is a valuable and comprehensive opportunity for the entire KU community to reflect on our institutional performance and ensure both accountability and continuous improvement. The fullness of our self-study reporting effort depends on dozens of KU community members who have agreed to serve on the various committees. Collectively, they will develop a strong narrative and gather the hundreds of evidentiary documents that will demonstrate KU meets — and often exceeds — the requirements of the HLC criteria.

Co-chairs of the reaffirmation’s Steering Committee are Stephen Mazza, Dean of the School of Law, and Isaac Opole, KU Medical Center Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Professor in the School of Medicine. The Steering Committee is composed of subcommittee co-leads assembled to address each of the five Criteria of Accreditation.

Additional committees that support the reaffirmation of accreditation process include:

  • Executive Committee – KU’s top leadership team
  • HLC Planning Group – individuals who conduct the administrative, operational, and communications functions of the reaffirmation process
  • Federal Compliance Committee – ensures KU is meeting Title IV program responsibilities and complying with the expectations of specific regulations of the Department of Education
  • Quality Initiative Committee – oversees progress on KU’s chosen quality improvement project
  • Evidence Workgroup – manages collection of evidence and consistency of documentation

As a requirement of HLC reaffirmation, the self-study process must involve a diverse and representative cross-section of the university community. KU’s committees reflect a varied community of faculty, staff, students, governance representatives, and administrators who bring a multitude of perspectives, varied knowledge, and intersectionality to the process, providing depth and richness to KU’s self-evaluation.

View complete committee rosters

Send questions or comments to hlc2025@ku.edu.

Committees Focus on Evidence Collection & Areas Needing Improvement

Evidentiary documents demonstrating compliance with HLC’s five Criteria for Accreditation and an established process of continuous improvement are central to KU’s effort to build a strong case for reaffirmation of HLC accreditation. Five committees, each focusing on a specific accreditation criterion, are at work building document repositories and working with academic and administrative units to address nest steps and ongoing advances. The five committees and their areas of focus are:

  • Criterion 1:  Mission
  • Criterion 2:  Integrity; Ethical and Responsible Conduct
  • Criterion 3:  Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support
  • Criterion 4:  Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement
  • Criterion 5:  Institutional Effectiveness, Resources and Planning

In recent years, HLC shifted to an evidence-based process rather than allowing institutions to provide a long, narrative description. Each criterion committee will provide a brief narrative describing and KU meets the required core components, supported by an extensive pool of evidence documenting the case. The five narratives will be compiled into a single report and the site visit team will have access to the full repository of evidence for all criteria.

Recommendations from the 2019 mid-cycle review report and revisions to some HLC criteria highlight the university has areas of needed improvement to ensure KU demonstrates compliance by March 2025. Some critical areas for improvement are:

  • Develop a single, university-wide mission statement that is approved by the Kansas Board of Regents
  • Academic Catalog lists all program offerings, and program requirements are regularly updated
  • Faculty credentials are sufficiently documented and discoverable
  • Establish a cyclical institution-wide process for collecting syllabi for every course and ensure each syllabus includes required elements
  • Update tested-experience policy and ensure it addresses graduate courses

While these areas will be given priority, other needed improvements may be identified by criterion committees as the evidence-gathering process continues in the months ahead.

HLC & Specialized Accreditation Video

The HLC Steering Committee co-chairs, Stephen Mazza and Isaac Opole, were featured in a video hosted by Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer emphasizing HLC and Specialized Accreditation as a core foundation of Jayhawks Rising. Their discussion provides a helpful overview of the HLC reaffirmation process and its importance for achieving institutional priorities and objectives as well as continuous quality improvement and accountability.

 

Countdown Clock

On our homepage, we’re counting down to March 3, 2025, when the HLC Peer Review Team will arrive to conduct its on-site evaluation for KU’s reaffirmation of accreditation.