WEBVTT

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The Higher Learning Commission
is one of a handful of regional

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accreditation agencies around
the country. HLC accreditation

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assures quality by verifying
that an institution meets

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threshold standards and is
engaged in continuous

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improvement. In addition, all
institutions are required to

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complete an annual filing of the
institutional update, undergo

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annual monitoring of financial
and non-financial indicators and

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adhere to commission policies
and practices on institutional

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change. This process is required
by the federal government. With

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increased scrutiny on the cost
of higher education and student

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loans, the federal government
has put pressure on accreditors

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to make sure the institutions
under their oversight

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demonstrate their quality. Based
in peer review, the

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reaccreditation process happens
every 10 years. But due to this

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federal scrutiny, the process is
much different today than it was

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in 2010, when UNI last went
through it.

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The reaccreditation or
reaffirmation process includes

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four steps. First, we had to
complete a Quality Initiative

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Project to undertake some
improvement or innovation and

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report on it by August 2019. Our
QIP revolved around increasing

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our institutional capacity to
engage in service learning. Led

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by Julianne Gassman and Nick
Rafanello, the QIP was very

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successful. HLC reviewers
remarked that this initiative

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"has created a blueprint that
other institutions could follow

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to establish or bolster service
learning." Second, we must

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demonstrate our compliance with
a series of federal regulations.

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Third, we must submit a self
study or assurance argument that

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documents how well we meet HLC's
criteria. Finally, we must

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undergo a site visit which takes
place March 29th and 30th, 2021.

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Over the past two years, over
100 people on campus have been

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led by a steering committee to
do the work required for our

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assurance argument, reviewing
our practices and procedures,

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finding evidence of how we meet
HLC criteria and identifying

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areas in which we might need
improvement. Due to their hard

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work, our assurance argument is
in very good shape and we'll be

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ready to share with campus for
final feedback in the next few

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months.