2005 HLC Self-Study Steering Committee
Review of December 2, 2004 Meeting

Members Present: Barbara Bushman, John Catau, Bill Cheek, Tom Dicke, Frank Einhellig, Martha Kirker, Pete Richardson, Roger Sell, Don Simpson, and GA Linda Rogers.

Bill reported that so far nine departments have submitted responses. In a quick review, they look good. Copies of several of the responses were handed out to the committee to look over and determine if feedback should be provided. Those reviewed were the reports from the departments of Finance and General Business, Nursing, Early Childhood Development, and History. Most of the responses are following the bulleted format. The committee recommended posting the Early Childhood and the Nursing responses on the Web site as additional examples. The reports from Nursing and Early Childhood were perceived as well laid-out and fairly inclusive, though John Catau noticed omissions from each of some rather significant changes that had taken place within those departments since the last reviews were done. For the Nursing department, this was the addition of a four-year nursing program, and for Early Childhood Development, it was the move from Health and Human Services to Education. Both of these moves were seen as supporting the University’s responsiveness to perceived needs of the community, and thus linking directly to the Public Affairs mission. One of the roles of the HLC steering committee will be to catch these sorts of omissions, and the wide diversity of committee members will facilitate this.

Most of the reports coming in have been giving fairly generic responses to the first two questions regarding the University and its mission. The Early Childhood Development response, however, is much more in-depth, providing concrete examples of its statements, and perhaps will help stimulate similar responses from other departments.

The feasibility of providing feedback to the departments on their submitted responses was discussed. It was agreed that there is simply not enough time for individual responses and critiques of each report, but that Bill would send out a memo to everyone outlining some general suggestions based on the submissions that have been reviewed so far. These suggestions will include:

The next meeting will be held December 9. At this time, Tammy Jahnke will report on the self-study conference that she recently attended in Chicago. This meeting will also serve as the committee’s holiday party, with refreshments provide.

Respectfully submitted,
Linda Rogers