Central Washington University

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NWCCU Reaffirmation of Accreditation - Staff Members

A Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) peer review committee comes to Ellensburg every seven years, with a midcycle evaluation in year three, to evaluate the extent of CWU's mission fulfillment based on the NWCCU Eligibility Requirements and Standards for Accreditation

Any NWCCU Eligibility Requirement or Accreditation Standard is fair game for a question from an evaluator. Evaluators will likely be particularly interested in your perspectives on CWU's student profile, mission, challenges and adaptability, sustainability (both financially and in terms of the quality and competitiveness of academic offerings and student services), and interactions between/among faculty, staff, students, and administrators.

Below you will find a series of sample questions the NWCCU evaluators may ask.

What are the primary, most important, changes you have implemented to improve your college or unit?

What data or information did you use to determine these specific changes were necessary?
What data or information did you (or will you) use to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of these changes?
To date, how effective have these changes been? What is working well - and what is not?

What are some examples of the division's and your college's or unit's strategic planning and implementation?

What is the primary mission of the institution? Who are the students CWU serves?

Has the student profile changes since the last NWCCU comprehensive site visit?
How will the change in mission/strategy impact your division?

How does the division and your college or unit support the institution's mission?

How do your strategic goals and initiatives promote the institution's mission?

To what extent is the institution fulfilling its mission?

Where and in what ways is the institution meeting or exceeding the expectations it set for itself?
Where and in what ways is the institution falling short?
How is the institution addressing those shortcomings?

To what extent is the division and your college or unit fulfilling its mission?

Where and in what ways is the division and your college or unit exceeding the expectations you have set?
Where and in what ways is the division and your college or unit falling short?
What are you doing to address those shortcomings?

Since the last NWCCU site visit, in what ways have the institution, the division, and your college or unit had to adapt to changing circumstances - in terms of both external and internal factors?

How well have the institution, the division, and your college or unit adapted to change?
Thinking about the future, how well-equipped are the institution, the division, and your college or unit to adapt to change?

What are the primary challenges the institution, the division, and your college or unit have had to overcome since the last NWCCU site visit (fall 2018)?

What are the primary challenges the institution, the division, and your college or unit currently faces?
What challenges are on the horizon?
How do you see the institution, the division, and your college or unit addressing and overcoming those challenges?

CWU News

CWU Army ROTC to host nighttime Norwegian Foot March this Friday

May 1, 2024

by Rune Torgersen

Grant-funded Limitless network brings Yakima students to CWU