Institutional Effectiveness
Accreditation for Faculty Senators
NWCCU Reaffirmation of Accreditation - Faculty Senate
A Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) peer review committee comes to Ellensburg every seven year, 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 CWU has implemented during your time in the Faculty Senate?
- What data/information did CWU use to determine these specific changes were necessary?
- What information did CWU 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 is the primary mission of the institution? Who are the students CWU serves?
- Has the student profile changed since the last NWCCU comprehensive site visit (fall 2018)?
- How will the change in mission/strategy impact the role of the Faculty Senate?
- How does the Faculty Senate support the institution’s mission? How do Faculty Senate 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?
- Since the last NWCCU site visit, in what ways have the institution and the Faculty Senate had to adapt to changing circumstances – in terms of both external and internal factors?
- How well have the institution and the Faculty Senate adapted to change?
- Thinking about the future, how well-equipped are the institution and the Faculty Senate to adapt to change?
- What are the primary challenges the institution and the Faculty Senate have had to overcome since the last NWCCU comprehensive site visit (fall 2018)?
- What are the primary challenges the institution and the Faculty Senate currently face?
- What challenges are on the horizon?
- How do you see the institution and the Faculty Senate addressing and overcoming those challenges?
- Given the time, energy, and effort devoted to General Education, you are also likely to be asked the following:
- How would you describe the current GE program?
- What do you see as the benefits of the program?
- Do you see any drawbacks to the program? Can those drawbacks be mitigated? If so, how?
- In what ways will the Faculty Senate continue to be involved in the implementation and assessment of the GE program?
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