Self-Study 2013-2016 is a key component of ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â Middle States Accreditation 2016, our decennial university accreditation review by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Everyone in the ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â community, on and off campus, is invited to contribute thoughts on the progress the university has made since our last reaffirmation of accreditation.

What does ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â do well? Where is improvement needed? Self-Study addresses all aspects of university life: academic programs, faculty/staff expertise, campus life, facilities, university governance, financial stewardship, community partnerships, and more.

Watch for many ways to share your views-e-mail surveys, public forums, comment areas on published documents, and others-and participate. Your views are vital to ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â Middle States accreditation.

Self-Study Timeline

Pre-Review: Steering Committee Forms; Pre-Planning Begins
April-May 2013
  • Steering Committee Formed
  • First meeting of Steering Committee May 7, 2013
May 2013
  • Self-study organizational model chosen
June 2013
  • Subcommittee chairs selected; appointments to subcommittees begin
July 2013
  • Early draft research questions created by co-chairs; data gathering begins, organized according to MSCHE Accreditation Readiness Report Guidelines ("Document Roadmap")
August 2013
  • ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â Middle States website created
  • Data sharing wiki chosen (Confluence)
Year 1: Subcommittees Form and Work Begins
September 2013
  • MSCHE 2015 Review Process communicated to ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â community
  • Subcommittee appointments finalized
  • Communication plan finalized
October 2013
  • Steering committee and subcommittees finalize research questions
  • Initial meetings of subcommittees/subcommittee review of research questions/ return revised research questions to steering committee for final approval
November 2013
  • Self-Study Institute
December 2013
  • Research questions finalized by steering committee
  • Searchable data library created in Confluence
February 2014
  • Self-study design finalized by steering committee
  • Site visit by MSCHE staff liaison to review self-study design on February 26, 2014; revisions to self-study design requested.
  • Data point person meets with subcommittees about data in Confluence
  • Subcommittees request data and begin analysis
March 2014
  • Steering committee revises self-study design
April-May 2014
  • Revised self-study design sent to MSCHE liaison April 30, 2014
  • Subcommittees continue to meet, gather data, and report back to the steering committee
Year 2: Data Collection and Analysis by Subcommittees/Creation of Draft Self-Study Report
September-December 2014
  • Subcommittees continue to collect and analyze data
October 2014
  • MSCHE Master Survey conducted via Qualtrics to ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â community
November 2014
  • MSCHE Master Survey conducted via Qualtrics to ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â community
December 10, 2014
  • Subcommittees submit drafts of Chapter Outlines to steering committee
February 2015
  • First drafts of chapters from subcommittees submitted to steering committee co-chairs; reviewed by steering committee and feedback given to subcommittees
April 2015
  • Second drafts from subcommittees submitted to steering committee co-chairs; reviewed by steering committee
May 2015
  • Steering committee makes recommendations to Faculty writer by May 15
Summer 2015
  • Faculty writer synthesizes report and drafts self-study report
Year 3: Creation of the Final Report and On-Campus MSCHE Team visit
September 2015
  • Self-study report (revised draft version) shared with steering committee ; review and community-wide discussion of self-study; revisions made as necessary
October 2015
  • Second draft of self-study generated and distributed
November 2015
  • Self-study draft sent to Team Chair in advance of Preliminary Visit
  • MSCHE Evaluation Team Chair visits ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â campus
December 2015-January 2016
  • Edits and revision of self-study based on feedback from Team Chair
February 2016
  • Final version of self-study produced and sent to Visiting Team
March-April 2016
  • Visiting Team visits campus (no later than April 15, 2016)
June 2016
  • Commission meets to determine Accreditation Action