HLC Reaffirmation Message

umkc logo with blue background

April 9, 2020

Dear Colleagues:

It is my pleasure to inform you that, thanks to your hard work and commitment, UMKC has received across-the-board affirmation in all categories from the Higher Learning Commission. As a result, we will continue as a fully-accredited university for another 10 years before our next reaffirmation process, scheduled for 2029-30.

Every member of our university should be proud of this result. Among the observations noted by the review team are the following:

  • Our mission is clear and guides our operations, and this was evident through the many interactions on the Volker and Health Sciences campuses during the site visit.
  • UMKC brings a historical awareness of the importance of access to education, and the challenges of systemic barriers to opportunity, in its diversity and inclusion efforts.
  • The visiting team’s conversations with UMKC personnel and students confirmed that our institution is deeply committed to its public-service mission.
  • The university operates with integrity in all financial and academic functions.
  • It was apparent that the university (and the UM System) support freedom of expression in teaching, learning, and scholarship.
  • The review team found that the institution had the commitment for ongoing educational achievement and improvement through assessment of student learning and that this commitment is part of the institutional culture.

Again, thank you for the time and effort you invested in this vitally important process. I know we can’t get together to celebrate in-person, but that day will come. I look forward to gathering with you in the not-too-distant future to raise a toast to our success!

Sincerely,

C. Mauli Agrawal, Ph.D.        Jenny Lundgren, Ph.D.
Chancellor                                Interim Provost

University of Missouri-Kansas City | Kansas City, MO 64110 | (816) 235-1000
UMKC is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

Announcement of Higher Learning Commission Site Visit

November 21, 2019
Dear Colleagues,

The upcoming site visit with our peer review team from the Higher Learning Commission is drawing near. This visit, scheduled for December 2 and 3, will play a critical role in renewing our accreditation – an imperative for our mission of teaching, research and service.

In order to prepare for this important event, I am inviting our entire university community to review our final assurance argument.

I also want to urge as many members of our community as possible to participate in the open forums that will be part of the site visit. The schedule for the open forums is included below. If the HLC Peer Review Team Chair makes any changes to the schedule, the changes will be updated on the UMKC accreditation website.

Open Forum:  Criterion 1 & 2 (Mission & Integrity)
Monday, December 2
9:45-10:30 am, Student Union 401 AD

Open Forum:  Criterion 3 & 4 (Teaching & Learning)
Monday, December 2
2:15-3:00 pm, Student Union 401 AD

Open Forum:  Criterion 5 (Finances & Planning)
Tuesday, December 3
9:30-10:15 am, Student Union 401 AD

The HLC Site Team Chair has requested that a special invitation be sent informing you of two special times for “drop in” visits:

Monday, December 2
10:45 – 11:30 a.m.
Administrative Center – Swope Park Room

Tuesday, December 3
8:30 – 9:15 a.m.
Administrative Center – Swope Park Room

I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of this process. Accreditation holds our university to a high standard of quality. It provides confirmation that we are living up to our promise to offer students the best educational experience possible. As an accredited university, we are able to attract more research funding and recruit renowned faculty to teach and discover here at UMKC. Finally, our value to the community we serve is dependent upon our accreditation; it is how our constituents certify our position as a leader in learning. More information, including a summary of our assurance argument, study guide and a 5-episode podcast to prepare for the site visit, can be found at our accreditation page.

I want to offer my sincere gratitude to the dedicated faculty and staff who have been working toward this site visit for more than two years. Your work has been vitally important, and done with skill, care and commitment.

Respectfully,

Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, Ph.D.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Professor of Management

Mock Open Forums

Dear Colleagues,

Please join me and members of our UMKC campus community for our upcoming Mock Open Forums on Thursday, September 26 and Friday, September 27 as part of our Reaccreditation Process with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).

UMKC needs your engagement in this process.

This fall, UMKC will be participating in HLC’s decennial review. This is part of our commitment to building and maintaining public trust and promoting best practices in higher education. The UMKC site visit with our external peer review team has been scheduled for Monday, December 2 and Tuesday, December 3. Please hold these important dates on your calendar.

Central to the December site visit and the HLC review processes are a series of open forums focused on HLC’s core criteria. The review will focus on student learning; education as a public purpose; promoting a culture of continuous improvement; encouraging transparency and ethical behavior and practice; and conducting planning and management of resources to ensure institutional sustainability and efficiency (among other things).

In order to prepare for our site visit, we will be conducting Mock Open Forums. We have invited two consultants to facilitate these sessions. They have provided the university with guidance and recommendations throughout our planning process, and we feel this will provide the university community with a good sense of what we can expect in December.

Each of us has a part to play in ensuring we are complying with the standards we have set in place. Your participation is critical to ensuring we are putting our best foot forward.

More information can be found at https://info.umkc.edu/accreditation/hlc/

Thank you for considering this request, and thanks again to the co-chairs, the steering committee members and university leaders who have been working so hard on this initiative. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ken Novak, UMKC HLC Accreditation co-chair, at novakk@umkc.edu.

Respectfully,

Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, Ph.D.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Professor of Management

Thursday, September 26

Criterion 1 – Mission
Criterion 2 – Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct
10-11 a.m. Mock Open Forum for Criterion 1 and Criterion 2
Bloch Executive Hall, Room 413

Criterion 3 – Teaching & Learning: Quality, Resources & Support
Criterion 4 – Teaching & Learning: Evaluation & Improvement
1-2:30 p.m. Mock Open Forum for Criterion 3 and Criterion 4
Bloch Executive Hall, Room 413

Friday, September 27

8-9 a.m. Mock Open Forum for Student Learning Outcome Assessment
Student Union, Room 401BC

Criterion 5 – Resources, Planning & Institutional Effectiveness
10-11 a.m. Mock Open Forum for Criterion 5
Student Union, Room 401BC

HLC Road Show

Members of the HLC Executive Committee are visiting a meeting near you. We are sharing updates and important information about the upcoming comprehensive evaluation site visit.

We are happy to present at your department or division meeting. If you would like members of the committee to speak at your meeting, please contact either Ken Novak or Alexis Petri.

HLC Road Show PowerPoint

HLC Key Talking Points5 (aka Ken’s Green Sheet)

HLC Open Forum – May 2

umkc logo with blue background

Dear Colleagues:

UMKC needs your engagement in the accreditation process for our university.

If you were unable to participate in our first open forum earlier this Spring, please join me and members of our Higher Learning Commission team for our second open forum on Thursday, May 2 at 10:00 am in the Health Sciences Building #4301, as we seek your input and answer your questions about our assurance argument and evidence collection.

I know you are busy, and still I hope you will make time to attend. Your involvement and contributions are critical to the reaffirmation of UMKC’s HLC accreditation.

The forum will enhance your awareness of how we strive for campus-wide excellence, even as you work toward excellence in your own unit. Accreditation holds our university to a high standard of quality and provides confirmation that we are living up to our promise to students: to offer them the best educational experience possible. Furthermore, as an accredited university, we are able to generate more research dollars and recruit renowned faculty to teach and discover here at UMKC. Finally, our value to the community we serve is dependent upon our accreditation; it is how our constituents certify our position as a leader in learning.

Each of us has a part to play in ensuring that we are complying with the standards we have set for ourselves and the university. Your participation is critical to ensuring we are putting our best foot forward.

In Fall 2017, I asked Cindy Pemberton and Ken Novak to serve as co-chairs of UMKC’s HLC Accreditation Steering Team, and I asked more than 50 of our colleagues to work on preparing UMKC for our upcoming HLC site visit on December 2 and 3, 2019.

I am deeply grateful to this group for having done the heavy lifting and, at times, tedious work over the past 18 months to gather evidence and craft assurance arguments for the HLC reviewers.

More information can be found at https://info.umkc.edu/accreditation/hlc/

Thank you for considering this request, and thanks again to the co-chairs, the Steering Team, committee members, and to university leaders who have been working so hard on this initiative.

I look forward to seeing you this Thursday, May 2 at 10:00 am in HSB #4301.

Respectfully,

Barb

Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, Ph.D.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Professor of Management

 

slide deck:  May 2 2019__HLC Town Hall Presentation

Bulle-TEN Issue 1 of 10

logo for Bulle-TEN which is a banner in UMKC colors

  1. Welcome to Bulle-TEN, a ten-issue newsletter designed to help you prepare for UMKC’s Higher Learning Commission (HLC) accreditation comprehensive evaluation and institutional site visit. Each issue will consist of ten bits of information, announcements, resources, and invitations to participate.
  2. Mark your calendars for the institutional site visit, December 2 and 3, 2019. As the visit nears, HLC Co-Chairs will make specific requests for meetings and/or serving as a resource.
  3. What is HLC and why does it matter? Come find out at 1 of 2 town hall events. 1) Wednesday, March 6 in Pierson Auditorium from 2 to 3:30 p.m. 2) Thursday, May 2 in the Health Sciences Building, Room 4301, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
  4. Student success is a shared responsibility. Come to one of three forums to learn more about the student success model and help name it. 1) Wednesday, February 27: Volker Campus, Student Union, Room 401AD, 3-4 p.m. 2) Thursday, February 28: Volker Campus, Student Union, Room 401AD, 8:30-9:30 a.m. 3) Friday, March 8, Student Success Model (Rescheduled from 2/20) – Health Sciences Campus HSB #3301.
  5. It’s never too early to tidy your website. Around April, HLC will begin identifying the peer review team who will conduct our site visit in December. The first thing peer reviewers will do is visit our website. Please help out by making sure your website is up-to-date.
  6. Website search woes. While on the topic of the UMKC website, MCOMM will be promoting specific URLs and search terms so that the latest pages and most accurate information comes to the top of the search. If there are pages that you have difficulty finding, please let Alexis know by completing this online form.
  7. Members of the HLC Criterion Committees are currently revising assurance arguments. They may be contacting you for evidence such as meeting summaries or reports. Upcoming due date for revised assurance argument: April 1, 2019
  8. Resource: HLC’s Assumed Practices. “Foundational to the Criteria and Core Components is a set of practices shared by institutions of higher education in the United States. Unlike Criteria and Core Components, these Assumed Practices are (1) generally matters to be determined as facts, rather than matters requiring professional judgment and (2) unlikely to vary by institutional mission or context.”
  9. Resource: HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation.  HLC has 5 criteria and federal compliance against which the peer reviewers will evaluate UMKC. For over a year now, committee work groups have been reviewing the criteria and preparing an assurance argument based on evidence.
  10. Resource: UMKC Accreditation website.

Thank you,

HLC Co-Chairs: Cindy Pemberton, PhD and Ken Novak, PhD

HLC Lead Assurance Argument Writer: Alexis Petri, EdD

issue 1. tags: hlc, umkc website, student success, resources