Accreditation: What we learned about ourselves

College Forum Talk August 19, 2015

Patricia A. Fleming, Ph.D.Provost/ Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

We are awesome!

Strengths FutureConsiderations

Team Leaders

Julie Storme Co – team chairs

Laurel Thomas Daniel Flowers

The institution’s mission is clear and articulated publicly;

it guides the institution’s operations.

CRITERION I

STRENGTHS

•Saint Mary's Mission is deeply understood by the College community and drives operations.

•Saint Mary's places its educational responsibilities in a place of primacy.

Future Considerations

•Continue using the strategic planning process to allow for intentional and periodic revisiting of Mission  documents.

•Continue progress in relation to diversity issues writ large.

• Increase and strengthen the recent initiatives that extend the College's outreach to communities of interest.

The institution acts with integrity;

its conduct is ethical and responsible.

CRITERION 2

•Saint Mary's has a long history of fulfilling the Institution's fiduciary, statutory, and compliance obligations.

•Saint Mary’s has well-established, publicly-available ethical policies and procedures

STRENGTHS

•Continue efforts to improve FERPA training

•Increase knowledge of available online resources related to integrity

Future Considerations

The institution provides high quality education, wherever and however

its offerings are delivered.

CRITERION 3

• Publicly-articulated learning outcomes for all academic programs 

• The Sophia Program in Liberal Learning, a vibrant and Mission-driven general education program

• A new and evolving First-Year Advising Program that promotes advising as teaching

• Student-Faculty collaboration in research, scholarship, and creative work

STRENGTHS

• The Writing Proficiency Program

• Student services with intentional focus on underrepresented and international Students

• Highly-qualified Instructional and Student-support Staff who are available to Students

• Growth in the number and diversity of study-abroad programs

• Mission-driven co-curricular program

STRENGTHS

• Improve the support for the professional development of Staff

• Continue evaluating the effectiveness of current course evaluations

• Continue integrating the Sophia Program into Saint Mary's academic culture

• Continue to expand undergraduate co-curricular Mission-based opportunities to Graduate Students and develop new opportunities specifically for them

Future Considerations

The institution demonstrates responsibility for the quality of its educational programs,

learning environments, and support services,

and it evaluates their effectiveness for student learning through

processes designed to promote continuous improvement.

CRITERION 4

• Establishment of a regular cycle of external and internal program review

• Establishment of a improved comprehensive general education and programmatic assessment cycle found deficient during the previous HLC visit

• Significant efforts to support a culture of assessment through Faculty development

• Excellent long-standing retention and completions rates

STRENGTHS

Average First-Year Retention and Graduation Rates (10 year average)

*National Data Source: National Center for Educational Statistics

•Continue efforts to revise the internal review process in response to experience and practice

•Consistently use best practices in assessment across all academic programs

• Increase the usefulness and application of student learning assessment results

Future Considerations

The institution’s resources, structures, and processes

are sufficient to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its

educational offerings, and respond to future challenges and opportunities.

The institution plans for the future.

CRITERION 5

• Successful Capital Campaign concluded at the end of AY14-15

• Resource allocation ensuring the primacy of Saint Mary's educational mission

• The Board of Trustees is knowledgeable about Saint Mary's and engaged with its Mission

• Improved strategic planning since our last accreditation, resulting in a Strategic Plan that is current and Mission-driven

STRENGTHS

• Continue to grow net-tuition revenue

• Tackle the challenge of balancing resource allocation with increasing Student financial need

• Address Faculty dissatisfaction with some elements of shared governance

• Continue with a master plan designed to improve physical infrastructure

• Consider the establishment of a Staff Council

Future Considerations

Accreditation: What we learned about ourselves

Thank You !