Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
UW Colleges Provost Greg Lampe is excited about the Higher Learning Commission accreditation site visit Nov. 5 to 7, 2012, and wants to makes sure the nine peer evaluators meeting with faculty, staff, students and stakeholders in more than 100 sessions get even better treatment than he and others did during September’s initial campus “mock” site visits. That means making sure colleagues turn on campus lights for early visitors, wear nametags, welcome evaluators warmly, provide a place to leave coats, ensure access to all campus spaces and, when the visit is over, express thanks for the evaluators’ time and efforts as they walk them out.
Lampe is confident about what the evaluators will find between arrival and departure. During an Oct. 23, 2012, UW Colleges Town Hall Meeting at The Pyle Center in Madison and via video statewide, he talked about strengths that emerged during the September mock site visits:
- Meaningful assessment at campus, department and institutional levels
- Faculty and staff who care deeply about teaching and learning
- Shared governance
- The mission of access and student success
- Students’ heartwarming stories reinforcing that UW Colleges delivers on its mission
Challenges that emerged were, for the most part, not a surprise, Lampe said, listing them as:
- Communication struggles of a multi-campus structure
- Recruitment of diverse faculty, staff and students
- Work demands on faculty and staff
- Implementation of Integrated Enrollment Management (more of a strength among campuses that were early adopters)
- Co-curricular challenges related to students who commute, work and have families
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Greg Lampe
“Balance our challenges with our strengths and our weaknesses with our opportunities,” Lampe advised. He urged all involved to prepare for discussing the self-study, providing campus specific details and answering questions directly and honestly.
Keep in mind that you’re talking to people who will decide whether UW Colleges is reaccredited, whether the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences is accredited and whether our mission change is approved, he said.
“Let them see our passion. Let them hear our issues,” Lampe said, concluding, “Focus on what matters to us all — our students.”
