Ferris is sched­uled for a Higher Learning Commission (HLC) visit next spring for reac­cred­i­ta­tion of the university.

The Higher Learning Reaccreditation Visiting Team is set to visit the cam­pus on April 18–20, 2011. Roberta Teahen, asso­ciate provost and self-study coor­di­na­tor on the HLC, said the entire uni­ver­sity is involved with prepar­ing for the visit.

The Reaccreditation Visiting Team will deter­mine if Ferris is meet­ing the stan­dards and val­ues it rep­re­sents in order to be reac­cred­ited as a pub­lic university.

Teahen, along with four other fac­ulty mem­bers, are “inti­mately” involved in the process. These mem­bers include Sandy Balkema, self-study writer/editor and pro­fes­sor in the Languages and Literatures Department, Christine Vonder Harr co-chair of the steer­ing com­mit­tee and fac­ulty mem­ber in the Languages and Literature Department, and Michael Cairns, asso­ciate vice pres­i­dent of stu­dent affairs. However, more than 100 peo­ple are involved and have been serv­ing on a vari­ety of committees.

In prepa­ra­tion for the visit, the uni­ver­sity has con­ducted a num­ber of sur­veys from stu­dents, alumni and staff, said Teahen. The HLC is com­posed of five steer­ing com­mit­tees that are in charge of gath­er­ing infor­ma­tion and data related to the committee’s given criterion.

The cri­te­ria used to eval­u­ate Ferris include “Mission and Integrity,” “Preparing for the Future,” “Student Learning and Effective Teaching,” “Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge,” and “Engagement and Service.”

Balkema said the HLC is cur­rently in a review stage and that she is writ­ing chap­ters of reviews on things such as what has changed on cam­pus since the last visit.

“Come September, we’ll have another set of reviews from the entire cam­pus com­mu­nity,” said Balkema.

She said they would receive reviews from var­i­ous groups on cam­pus, such as stu­dent groups and employer groups, to ensure they are rep­re­sent­ing the uni­ver­sity fairly.

Currently, the com­mit­tees are focus­ing on areas of improve­ment in the uni­ver­sity. Teahen said the next chal­lenge is to see if there are areas to be worked on and if the com­mit­tees have to form plans to make improvements.

When the team vis­its the cam­pus, it pays atten­tion to dif­fer­ent aspects each visit, said Balkema. For the visit in 2011, the key aspects the teams will be look­ing for revolve around if Ferris is rep­re­sent­ing diver­sity and globalization.

“They change as edu­ca­tion changes,” said Balkema. She also said when it vis­its the cam­pus, the team will walk up to a stu­dent on cam­pus and ask them if they know what is going on with accreditation.

Teahen said the steer­ing com­mit­tees wel­come more stu­dent par­tic­i­pa­tion. Both Teahen and Balkema feel it is impor­tant for stu­dents to be aware of the accred­i­ta­tion process.

Students are wel­come to serve on one of the com­mit­tees and attend forums. Eventually, Teahen said they would like to see one or two stu­dents added to the steer­ing committees.

Students who are inter­ested may con­tact Teahen at ext. 3805 or teahenr@ferris.edu. n