Accreditation FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About Accreditation
What is accreditation?
- 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.
What can I do to prepare for a successful visit?
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?
