Assuring and advancing the quality of higher education.
Required to be eligible for federal student financial aid
Validates USAO’ standing in requests for public or private support.
Who is USAO’ accreditor?
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC, for short).
USAO last received 10-year continuance of accreditation in 2010.
When is USAO’ visit with the HLC?
External review team will be on campus March 30-31, 2020.
What will occur during the HLC visit?
A peer review team will spend two days on USAO’ campus.
Team members will tour campus, meet with administrators, students, staff, faculty,
and board members in both formal meetings and open forums, and evaluate assurance
argument.
The team will seek to verify the information provided in the Assurance Argument and
review USAO’ policies, procedures and strategic plans.
During this time, the team members will be determining whether USAO meets the standards
for reaccreditation.
Be prepared to answer questions appropriate to your role’s contribution to the institution.
STAFF
What can USAO be most proud of in services offered to students?
What area is of most concern in Student Services?
What is your impression of the campus climate?
Does USAO have appropriate policies and procedures in place?
Is there equity among departments relative to funding, staffing, space, support service?
How are planning and budgeting tied together?
How is quality documented within your department?
Tell us about significant changes in recruitment and retention over the past 5-10
years.
Is enrollment rising/falling/stabilized? What are the reasons for this?
Describe USAO’ retention
Are you aware of how the accreditation process works?
What can you say that would help the team to make a fair evaluation of USAO
STUDENTS
What can USAO be most proud of in services offered to students?
What is the aim of the Interdisciplinary Studies core curriculum?
What are the best attributes of this university?
Do students actually receive what USAO promises in the catalog, materials and website?
What kinds of changes are taking place within the university? Do you see these changes
as positive or negative? How will these changes impact USAO?
Do students have an opportunity to provide the administration with input?
Does USAO offer programming in support of diverse populations?
Did you know an HLC Accreditation Team was coming?
If someone gave USAO $1 million, how would you recommend it be spent?
FACULTY
How does USAO assure its Interdisciplinary Studies core curriculum is high quality?
What is USAO doing to assure an environment that is welcoming, inclusive and increasingly
diverse?
Describe USAO’ diversity efforts regarding student and faculty recruitment and retention?
Are the faculty and staff participating in the planning for the future?
Is the morale of the faculty and staff positive?
How does USAO provide support for student learning and effective teaching?
How does USAO assure quality in its educational programs?
What improvements have resulted from assessment?
How do program assessment results impact your planning process?
Do faculty have the necessary infrastructure and resources to support effective teaching
and learning (i.e., technology, laboratories, libraries, performance spaces, museum
collections)?
In what ways do faculty and students contribute to scholarship and creative work at
USAO?
How does USAO encourage or support student or faculty research, creative activity,
discovery?
How does USAO ensure the acquisition, discovery and application of knowledge responsibly?
Tell us about the trends in enrollment over the past 10 years. Is enrollment rising/falling/stabilized?
What are the reasons for this?
What programs are growing? What programs are not growing?
Describe USAO’ retention efforts
How were you involved in the accreditation process?
Have you read any of USAO’s accreditation materials?
Do you believe that the narrative accurately represents USAO? What, if anything, would
you add? What, if anything, would you change?
