university of hawaii west oahu reaffirmation of wasc accreditation the journey here and the path...

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII WEST OAHUREAFFIRMATION OF WASC ACCREDITATION

The journey here and the path ahead

April 17, 2015

Teri Cannon, Higher Education Consultant

CONGRATULATIONS!

UHWO: An adventure story

• Established as WOC in 1976• Moved to Leeward CC in 1998• Expanded to lower-division in 2007• Moved to new campus in 2012

The reaccreditation journey begins• WASC Proposal in May 2010

• Theme 1: Fostering Student Success• Theme 2: Organizing for Growth

• Capacity and Preparatory Review in April 2012• Issue 1: Addressing leadership turnover• Issue 2: Refocusing strategic plan• Issue 3: Student centered environment• Issue 4: Preparing for EER

• Commission action in June 2012• Delay EER• Issue Formal Notice of Concern

Two years along the path

• New well-qualified leadership team appointed• Communications plans developed and implemented

• Funding improved/Positions made permanent and faculty lines increased

• Academic Development Plan updated; strategic plan well underway

• Library, distance ed, tech, and other services enhanced

More accomplishments on the path

• Assessment and IR functions strengthened• Student service units assessed and new plans made

• Program reviews completed• Many outcomes broadly assessed• Results of assessment used to plan and improve

Arrival at our destination

Commission action in February 2015• Accreditation for seven years• Remove Notice of Concern

Applause for our progress

• Team report commendations• Move to new campus• Stable leadership• Student-centeredness• Increased funding• Commitment to quality assurance

• Improved planning• Improved assessment

• Creation of Office of Institutional Effectiveness

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

Stop-overs on the path ahead

• Next Interactions• Annual Reports: every May• Interim Report: Fall 2018• Mid-Cycle Review: Spring 2019• Next reaccreditation

• OSR: Fall 2021• AV: Spring 2022

The path ahead/what we carry

Team and Commission recommendations• Resource planning and financial stability• Increasing full-time, tenure-track faculty• Clarifying decision-making structures and processes

• Continuing development of assessment systems• Being strategic about distance education growth

Resource planning and development/sustainability

• Sufficient resources to support enrollment growth• Commitment from the state and UH system

• Maintaining general fund support • Building out the campus

• Good budgeting and monitoring of expenses• No operating deficits

Growing faculty capacity

• Greater numbers and proportion of full-time faculty• Percentage of FTF teaching courses• Number of FTF in each program• Add tenure-track lines if possible• Purposes:

• Teaching• Program development• Support for students/student achievement

Clarifying decision-making structures and processes

• Coherence of key academic initiatives• Lines of authority/governance structure, decision flows, e.g.,• Authority for ADP re allocation of faculty positions

• Committees: DE, Curriculum, Assessment• Other?

Developing assessment systems

• Disaggregation of data• Standards of performance• Internal and external benchmarks• More?

Distance education strategy

• Sufficiency of technology to support online and hybrid

• Strategy to determine what is online and hybrid• Align technology with:

• enrollment priorities• definitions• faculty development• assessment

Discussion: Approaches to addressing and monitoring these areas• Some suggestions:

• Clarify committee responsibilities first• Use an existing committee or process to oversee/connect with

relevant units• Create a new cross-unit committee expressly to monitor these

areas• Assign this task to Office of Institutional Effectiveness

• Other suggestions?

PREPARING THE INTERIM REPORTThe next leg of the journey

Contents of IR

• Report preparation/who, what, how, when• Institutional context/telling your story• Response to the six issues • Other issues and changes• Conclusion/tell the future

Interim Report issues• Resource planning and financial stability

• General fund• Budget, discipline and flexibility for growth

• Increasing full-time, tenure-track faculty• Increases in full-time faculty lines, etc.

• Clarifying decision-making structures and processes• Refinements of student and faculty governance structures

• Continuing development of assessment systems• Disaggregation of data, standards of performance, benchmarks

• Being strategic about distance education growth• Alignment of delivery, enrollment, policies, faculty development

• Stability of the leadership team (added)

Response to the issues• Cite exactly from action letter and add context from report• Answer these questions:

• What have we done to address it? What worked?• What evidence do we have of

progress/improvement/compliance?• What remains to be done? What will we do about it,

when and how?• Attach relevant evidence/documents

• Identify these in advance where possible

Interim report process• Report submitted (fall 2018)• Panel of three IRC members review and evaluate• Conference call held with institutional representatives

(December 2018 or January 2019)• IRC takes action to:

• Receive report • Request another report later• Request a progress report to staff later• Refer to Commission for a visit

REACCREDITATIONPlanning for the next big trip

Current areas of emphasis

• The meaning, quality and integrity of the degree• Retention, completion and student success• Student learning and achievement/assessment• Quality assurance processes and systems/program review

• Looking forward and planning in a dynamic higher ed environment

ENJOY YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTWith an eye on the horizon