The HLC Accreditation Steering Committee has set its meeting schedule for academic year 2013.  All meetings being at 1:15 pm and are held in Altgeld Hall 225 on the following dates:

September 7, 2012
September 28, 2012
October 26, 2012
November 30, 2012
January 25, 2013
February 22, 2013
March 22, 2013
April 26, 2013
May 10, 2013 

For more information, please contact Doris Macdonald at HLC2014@niu.edu.

HLC Accreditation Steering Committee Seeks Volunteers

Students, staff and faculty needed for two-year self-study process

All members of Northern Illinois University’s campus community are invited to participate in NIU’s 2014 Higher Learning Commission accreditation process. Students, staff and faculty are needed to serve on committees to help create a thorough review of the university and its goals.  Anyone interested in volunteering to serve on a committee should respond via email at HLC2014@niu.edu by Friday, May 4, 2012. In your response, please indicate which committee is of interest to you.  Committees will remain established through Fall 2013. 

The committees are organized around the following five accreditation criteria:

• Mission: The institution’s mission is clear and articulated publicly; it guides the institution’s operations.
• Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct: The institution acts with integrity; its conduct is ethical and responsible.
• Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support: The institution provides high quality education, wherever and however its offerings are delivered.
• Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement: The institution demonstrates responsibility for the quality of its educational programs, learning environments, and support services, and it evaluates their effectiveness for student learning through processes designed to promote continuous improvement.
• Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness: The institution’s resources, structures, and processes are sufficient to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its educational offerings, and respond to future challenges and opportunities. The institution plans for the future.

“Accreditation by the HLC is essential in externally validating how we accomplish our mission,” says HLC steering committee chair Doris Macdonald, associate professor, Department of English. “In addition, the process of self-study is a valuable component in our understanding of what we do, and what we can do, as an institution.”

The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association is one of six regional institutional accreditors in the US, responsible for accrediting over 1300 higher learning institutions. The HLC focuses on the core values of quality, integrity, innovation, diversity, inclusiveness, service, collaboration, and learning. Accreditation provides assurance to the public--in particular to prospective students--that an institution meets clearly stated requirements and criteria and will continue to meet them.

For more information, please contact Doris Macdonald at HLC2014@niu.edu.