Process

Missouri Southern State University views accreditation self-study as an opportunity to advance a culture that emphasizes and fosters the success of all students. It is important that the process adhere to the highest standards of integrity, objectivity, and thoroughness. Participation must represent the breadth of institutional constituencies.

The Steering Committee will guide the process and serve as liaisons and leaders of two task forces and eight teams. One task force will be responsible for reviewing, evaluating, and making recommendations for improvement relative to the HLC Criteria. The other task force will focus on the Foundational Dimensions. Each team will be assigned an area of responsibility, typically a Criterion or subset of Criterion Core Components and a subset of Foundational Dimensions. The charge to each team will be to approach its area of responsibility as a research project to determine and provide patterns of evidence that show the level of effectiveness of the University relative to the assigned area. In addition, each team will identify opportunities for institutional advancement and suggest action plans for accomplishing needed improvements.

The teams will use the fall of 2005 and spring of 2006 for initial data gathering and analysis. By the end of the spring semester, the teams and task forces will have submitted initial reports to the Steering Committee. The Coordinators and Steering Committee members will study the reports during the summer to identify areas that require additional research or recommendations.

In the fall of 2006, each task force and team will work to address needs that were identified relative to its respective area of responsibility and to refine its report. Revised reports will be due by the end of the fall term. These reports will go to the Editing Team for integration into a first draft of the Self-Study Report during the early spring of 2007. The first draft of the Self-Study Report will be reviewed by members of the Steering Committee throughout the remainder of the spring semester. During the summer of 2007, the Editing Team will create a second draft of the report for dissemination and comment.

By December of 2007, the final draft of the Self-Study Report will be finished. Preparations for the onsite visit of the HLC peer-review team will be conducted during the early spring of 2008. The three-day visit is tentatively expected to occur in March or April of 2008.