It’s a time for reflection at USD.
The university is conducting a self-study in preparation for an accreditation evaluation that will determine whether its students can receive federal financial aid and if credits earned by its students can transfer to other universities.
Since 1908, the university has been a member of the North Central Association, a body of peer institutions that grants accreditation to its members.
Senior Tim Steece understands the importance of accreditation in financial terms.
“It’s really important to me that the school stays accredited because I depend on student loans to pay for my education,” Steece said.
The self-study began in two years ago to prepare for the April 2011 visit by a team of members from other NCA institutions selected by its Higher Learning Commission.
William Richardson, political science department chair, and Laurie Becvar, graduate school dean, co-chair of the steering committee of the self-study.
Becvar says the purpose of the self-study is to identify areas of strength and weakness prior to the accreditation visit.
“It’s really a preliminary exercise to prepare for the visit from the accreditation team,” Becvar said.
The self-study report is to be submitted to the HLC three months prior to the accreditation visit.
It examines five criteria to evaluate whether the university merits reaccreditation.
Each criterion is evaluated by its own subcommittee, which are now in the process of writing their reports. They met Tuesday to discuss their progress and to share their findings about USD up to this point.
Bruce Kelley, USD’s Center for Teaching and Learning director, heads the Student Learning and Effective Teaching subcommittee, which is charged with gathering evidence of the effectiveness of instruction.
Although his committee’s report is not yet complete, Kelly is encouraged
by the data he has collected so far.
“There’s always room to grow but by some markers, USD is doing really well in instructing its students,” Kelley said.
Kelley’s subcommittee uses several metrics to measure the effectiveness of instruction at USD, including the Individual Development and Educational Assessment forms filled out by students at the end of each semester rating the performance of their instructor.
Kelley said during fall 2009, USD’s faculty scored 9.8 percentage points above the national average in the “excellent teaching” category.
Additionally, Kelley’s subcommittee uses the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency exams students take as sophomores to gauge learning.
The subcommittee found that USD students were twice as likely to score in the 90th percentile in science and writing as the national average.
“It’s a pretty rigorous benchmark to hold ourselves up to,” Kelley said. “And we still do pretty well.”
USD’s last self-study was conducted from 1999 to 2001 under the leadership of its coordinator professor Judith Sebesta.
Sebesta said the report was praised by the HLC as one of the most thorough they’ve seen.
“I was really impressed with the help I got from my colleagues across the institution,” Sebesta said. “A self-study is not something that can be done by one person.”
Sebesta said the logistics of conducting a self-study of this kind can be overwhelming, adding that mountains of data must be gathered to compile the report.
“We had boxes and boxes and boxes of material,” Sebesta said. “We had an entire room in the library just to store all the data we got back for the various committees to use.”
Although USD was granted accreditation as a result of the 2001 evaluation, the HLC cited a need for increased diversity outreach on campus.
Sebesta said this critique prompted the creation of the university’s campus diversity officer, a position currently held by Keith Moore.
Moore said the creation of his position has augmented the university’s efforts to promote diversity among its students and faculty.
“Of course we’re not where we’d like to be yet, but we’re building,” Moore said.
Moore added that the university is compartmentalized in its efforts to promote diversity and much of his job consists of coordinating between departments and encouraging cohesion.
Becvar said the current self-study is on schedule and the report is expected to be submitted to the HLC by January 2011.
“I feel really good about the way it’s going so far,” Becvar said. “It’s progressing nicely.”
Reach reporter Nick Woltman at Nick.Woltman@usd.edu.
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