The Higher Learning Commission will visit UNM next week to evaluate the University for accreditation.
UNM was last evaluated in 1999 and received re-accreditation for 10 years, with no interim reports or additional visits required.
The University has been accredited through the North Central Association since 1922.
UNM pays $2,500 in dues plus expenses to be a member of the NCA and be eligible for accreditation by the group.
The University will go through an on-site evaluation April 6 through 8. The evaluation will be conducted by an HLC team of 15 evaluators who are familiar with accreditation criteria. To gather information, the team will host a series of meetings with UNM departments.
Nancy Middlebrook, University accreditation director, said UNM has been preparing for the accreditation for about two years.
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"It has really been a team effort, dividing and conquering," she said.
The Provost's Office appointed a steering committee in May 2007 that has been working to compile data to show the University is meeting accreditation requirements. This information is put into a report called a Self-Study, which is submitted to the HLC to aid the evaluation process, Middlebrook said.
The provost asked employees from the UNM community, including faculty and staff members, to join the committee.
"We wanted to make sure the steering committee was representative of the entire institution," Middlebrook said.
The accreditation evaluation will include all UNM campuses, academic programs and educational sites affiliated with the University.
Wynn Goering, vice provost for Academic Affairs, said the accreditation consultants will evaluate and accredit the entire institution over the course of three days.
"It is all or nothing," Goering said. "Every unit was asked about what they do in virtually every area."
The HLC uses five criteria for evaluation. Each criterion includes a statement that defines the standards and expectations of the evaluators as well as four or five subcategories used to determine whether the institution is meeting the requirements.
The Self-Study report is the bulk of the information that will be presented to the HLC, and the team of evaluators already received the report to review before coming to UNM.
They will invite everyone from students to the Board of Regents to meet with them so they can gather more information during their on-site visit, Middlebrook said.
In addition to the standard Self-Study, this year UNM was approved by the NCA to conduct a special emphasis Self-Study.
This study allows the University to focus in-depth on an issue that is important to the institution's administration.
"It is a really neat thing, because only institutions in good standing are approved to do this," Middlebrook said.
UNM has chosen to conduct the special
emphasis Self-Study on the topic of providing access and success to a diverse student body.
Goering said accessibility is important to the University because UNM has a unique student population.
"It was a good way to bring a lot of people to the table and get them to take a look at the University's approach to things," Goering said. "It has already been a useful experiment." It is also an opportunity for UNM to get feedback and resource information from the commission.
The HLC team will submit an exit report with their conclusions. The report will consist of two components:
The evaluative component will sum up the team's findings, and the assurance component will offer the University ways to improve. This is a preliminary report that tells the University administration what the HLC's recommendations to the NCA will be.
Middlebrook said the final approval is a process.
"We are looking at three to six months until the final decision is known," she said. "We will hear what they have to say, and then we will begin working on those things."
Middlebrook said the HLC team is aware of the current UNM faculty and staff complaints against the administration.
"To what extent it will impact the process, we do not know," she said.
The commission will look at the functioning of the University and how well everyone involved is completing its mission.
"The evaluation is of the institution, not the personnel of the University," Middlebrook said.
For more information, visit Unm.edu/~accred
