From MSCHE Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation(https://www.msche.org/standards/) An institution of higher education is a community dedicated to students, to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge, to the study and clarification of values, and to the advancement of the society it serves. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), through accreditation, mandates that its member institutions meet rigorous and comprehensive standards, which are addressed in the context of the mission of each institution and within the culture of ethical practices and institutional integrity expected of accredited institutions. In meeting the quality standards of MSCHE accreditation, institutions earn accredited status, and this permits them to state with confidence: “Our students are well-served; society is well-served.” Middle States Commission on Higher Education3624 Market Street, 2nd Floor West, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Announcements Final Middle States Self-study Report - Town Hall, Feb. 24, 2021 The University community can access the final Middle States reaccreditation documents, which include the self-study, requirements of affiliation, and verification of compliance reports, at this link: https://studentwpunj.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/MSCHE /MiddleStatesVisit /EgBVeCJGX0VEtZDyNXxalwUBDCfYwALJsWPRGcBFvX-1zw. A virtual university Town Hall held on Feb. 24, 2021, brought the university community together to review the reaccreditation (reaffirmation) process that has engaged us for the past two years. The Town Hall also served to prepare the University for the upcoming site visit by the Middle States reaccreditation review team. The Steering Committee co-chairs led the town hall through a look back at the process of our reaccreditation self-study and a look ahead at what to expect for the site visit scheduled for March 14-17, 2021. This virtual visit will involve interviews and discussions among the review team and numerous university groups, including faculty groups, assessors, staff groups, the President and his Cabinet, students, BOT members and the Middle States Steering Committee and Working Group members. A schedule of the interviews will be posted here as soon as it is finalized with our review team chair. Many thanks to all who have worked tirelessly to help tell our university story in the self-study report. Good luck to the University in this final leg of our reaccreditation, the site visit! See Feb. 24, 2021 Town Hall PowerPoint presentation See Feb. 24, 2021 Recording of the Town Hall https://wpunj.zoom.us/rec/share/y-GVr3OSBUCSvBHO_z39aFiLExPT9PJp0123UCniulGtWx0IGxwXUgQp0WjtlDDh.oLf6gtewk6EGd3xB Middle States Self-study draft submitted to Review Team Leader - October 10, 2020 The Middle States Steering Committee and Working Groups are pleased to announce submission of Draft 3 of our Middle States Self-study to our site visit review team leader, Dr. William Fritz, President of the College of Staten Island. Dr. Fritz will lead the site visit team next spring 2021 in the culmination of our Middle States reaccreditation process. At the moment, however, Dr. Fritz will review our draft 3 of the self-study and provide feedback to us on ways to clarify and strengthen it. He will also visit us virtually on Nov. 6, 2020, at which time he will speak with various entities on campus, including our Middle States Steering Committee, Provost, President, Cabinet, Board as well as groups of faculty, students and staff. We invite the university community to view draft 3 of the self-study to see the product of all our efforts at this point. Being familiar with the document will also enable you to more fully communicate with Dr. Fritz on his visit in November. The self-study can be accessed here. Log in is required. If you have any questions or concerns please email Steering Committee co-chairs Sandy Hill or Jonathan Lincoln. Many thanks to all who have made draft 3 of the self-study possible. This is truly a community effort, now and through the end of reaccreditation next spring. And thank you for your continuing participation in the process. Sandra Hill, Steering Committee co-chair Jonathan Lincoln, Steering Committee co-chair Feedback Drafts 2 and 3 of Middle States Self-Study - Summer/Fall 2020 Feedback collected after the March 2020 Town Hall helped facilitate production of Draft 2 of the Middle States self-study. In June 2020, the steering committee, deans, provost and external reviewer, Dr. Sandy De Young, reviewed and provided feedback on Draft 2 to the Steering Committee co-chairs and Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness. That feedback fed production of Draft 3, which was shared again with the deans, provost, external reviewer as well as the University vice presidents in September 2020 for their feedback. Draft 3 is the culminating draft of the self-study for viewing by our review team leader, Dr. William Fritz, President of the College of Staten Island. It was sent to him on Oct. 9. We look forward to his feedback and pre-site virtual visit with the campus community on November 6, 2020. Draft 3 was also shared at that time with the University community for any comments they wish to convey to the Steering Committee co-chairs. We look forward to those thoughts as well. Dr. William Fritz, President of The College of Staten Island to lead Spring 2021 reaccreditation visit – February, 2020 William Paterson University’s reaccreditation site visit will be led by Dr. William Fritz, President of The College of Staten Island. The University is pleased to be working with Dr. Fritz as the Review Team Leader. Dr. Fritz brings experience with Middle States that will be invaluable to our reaccreditation review. We look forward to working with him and his team. The makeup of the review team will be announced later. Update on Middle States Draft Self-study Report - Town Hall, March 11, 2020 The self-study draft 1 town hall meeting was successfully held on March 11th, 2020 with attendance from the campus community. The content of the draft report was reviewed and explained to attendees via a PowerPoint presentation. Covered in the PowerPoint include: Discussion of the various draft iterations per progression of the self-study process Information on the 3 campus assessment committees formed Sharing of link to draft 1 of the self-study and invitation to the campus community for their feedback The attendees were asked to read and provide feedback on the report using the feedback form provided with a stipulated feedback deadline of April 6th. Very useful feedback was received from the reviewers. Feedback provided is currently being used to refine draft 2 of the self-study report. Attached is a link to the PowerPoint presentation. Feedback Welcomed on Draft 1 of Middle States Self-study – Town Hall, March 11, 2020 The Middle States Steering Committee and Working Groups are pleased to present to the university draft 1 of our Middle States reaccreditation self-study. We welcome feedback from the whole of the university community, faculty, staff, students, and alums. What we are looking for in your feedback is whether, from your reading, you think we are satisfying the criteria of the seven standards required by Middle States. We welcome any additional information and evidence in support of the standard. A survey template is provided to give feedback. You may enter the survey multiple times to provide feedback to the various parts of the document, so you do not need to read it cover to cover to give your feedback. The self-study and feedback template are located at https://www.wpunj.edu/institutional-effectiveness/accreditation/. (See links Middle States Self-study Draft 1 for Review and Template for providing Feedback). Log in is required. Please provide your comments by April 6, 2020. We appreciate any and all feedback! Sandra Hill, Steering Committee co-chairJonathan Lincoln, Steering Committee co-chair Middle States Self-Study Design Document Accepted - June 25, 2019 The university is pleased to announce approval of its 2021 Reaccreditation Self-study Design by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education on June 25, 2019. The MSCHE Vice President and Liaison, Dr. Hilda Colon-Plumey, extended a special commendation to the WPU Steering Committee for “their thoughtful approach to the process.” The Self-Study Design serves as a guide for researching and writing the university’s self-study, involving all of the university community. (See Self-study Design). Dr. Colon-Plumey visited the campus on April 23, 2019, to talk with multiple campus groups about preparing our self-study report, from the Board of Trustees, to faculty and staff, to students. She spoke extensively to the Steering Committee members with helpful insight about preparing our self-study. Many thanks to Dr. Colon-Plumey for her assistance and to the university community who helped to prepare the design. The Working Groups are currently writing draft Self-study reports that will be reviewed for feedback and further developed into a comprehensive Self-study document. We look forward to the continuous engagement of the campus community during the fall 2019 semester as we further develop the report. Sandra Hill, Steering Committee co-chair Jonathan Lincoln, Steering Committee co-chair Middle States Self-Study Preparation, Liaison Campus Visit - April 23, 2019 The university has launched its Middle States reaccreditation initiative. This past February we kicked off the working group activities and secured a Steering Committee composed of working group co-chairs, faculty, staff, students and a Board of Trustees member. The working groups have begun their work of research and writing. In the spirit of reaccreditation, our Middle States (MSCHE) liaison officer, Dr. Hilda Colon Plumey, will visit our campus next Tuesday, April 23, to talk with numerous groups, from the President to Board members, about the WP Middle States reaccreditation process and self-study plan. She will address the entire campus community and take questions in a town hall meeting in Raubinger 101 from 2:00 – 3:15p.m. We invite you to come by the town hall to learn about this vitally important university activity. This is a good chance to ask questions of our MSCHE liaison, not just for the self-study working group members, but also for everyone on campus -- faculty, staff and students. Reaccreditation belongs to all of us. Everyone will play a part either in researching information, discussing recommendations, writing a chapter section, or providing feedback on the self-study report. Come out to see how you can be involved or just to learn about the process. Sandra Hill, Steering Committee co-chairJonathan Lincoln, Steering Committee co-chair Working Group Kickoff Meeting - February 22, 2019 An introductory meeting for all members of the working groups will be held in the Cheng Library auditorium on Wednesday, Feb 27 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. At that time the working groups will receive their charge for their work, have the opportunity to ask questions of the accreditation co-chairs, and meet their fellow working group members as well as the co-chairs of their group. Information will be made available afterwards if you cannot make this meeting. We look forward to seeing you at the Feb 27 meeting. This work is some of the most important that we do as a quality institution of higher education – assessing and reaffirming that what we are doing is helping our students grow and learn. Sandra Hill, PhD, Associate Provost for Academic AffairsWilliam Paterson University Middle States Commission on Higher Education Accreditation - December 3, 2018 William Paterson University is scheduled for its Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) reaccreditation site visit during the 2020/2021 academic year. This means that the work on our self-study will begin in earnest during the Spring 2019 semester. While preparing the self-study does require a substantial amount of work on the part of faculty, staff and administrators from all divisions at the university, the benefits of a thoughtful and thorough self-study can also be substantial. The self-study process requires that we take a critical look back at our programs, processes and accomplishments and also gives us an opportunity to look forward as a community and identify the priorities we will work on for the next eight years. A successful self-study requires full participation of the university community so there will be many different opportunities for your participation. We will need community members to serve on working groups that research and draft different portions of our self study, members to review and comment on drafts of the self-study chapters, and all members to participate in town hall and other meetings to discuss and provide feedback on various aspects of the self study. Associate Provosts Sandra Hill and Jonathan Lincoln, along with Associate Director of Institutional Effectiveness John Runfeldt, recently attended a MSCHE workshop designed specifically for colleges and universities preparing for reaccreditation in 2020/2021 and are in the process of organizing and planning our self-study. A website has been established to provide the WP community with information and updates about the MSCHE accreditation standards and self-study process. WP Middle States Self-Study: 2020-2021 Website You can volunteer (self-nominate) and/or nominate appropriate community members to participate on the various working group committees by visiting the page linked below. Middle States Self-Study: 2020-2021 Nominations for Participation Please volunteer or submit your nominations prior to January 6, 2019 so that our working groups can begin their work with the start of the Spring 2019 semester. Richard J. Helldobler, PhD, PresidentWilliam Paterson University
