Institutional Self Study:

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• Institutional Self Study
• Connecting Heart, Mind, and Soul
• Ronald L. Baker
• Executive Vice President
• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

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Purpose
Provoke thought and promote dialogue on effective
self-study practice.
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Announcements

• Name Tags
• Teal Associate
• Blue Baccalaureate
• Green Graduate
• Red Presenters
• Black - Staff
• Seminars
• I Degree Levels
• II Standards
• III Institutional Size
• Layout

Highest Degree Offered
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Participation
36 Institutions 17 Graduate 10 Public 7
Private 8 Baccalaureate 6 Public 1
Tribal 1 Private 11 Associate 10 Public
1 Tribal 166 Individuals 75 Graduate 43
Public 32 Private 32 Baccalaureate 21 Public
7 Tribal 4 Private 59 Associate 57
Public 2 Tribal Highest Degree Offered
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Connections
Soul
?
Veracity Integrity Authenticity
Plans Policies Practices
Purpose Principles Paradigm
Heart
Mind
?
?
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Congruence
Reflection
Achievements
?
Parables Allegories Metaphors
?
?
Actions
Aspirations
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Philosophy
Bees cull their several sweets from this flower
and that blossom, here and there where they find
them, but themselves afterward make the honey,
which is all and purely their own. Michel Eqyeum
de Montaigne
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Destination

• To meet accreditation expectations . . .
• do the right thing!

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Appraisal

• If I was going there, I wouldn't start from here.
• Irish Proverb

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Accredited Institutions
Native/ Degree Public Tribal
Private Total A 56 7 1 64
B 11 2 7 20 M
14 0 27 41 D 17 0
12 29 98 9 47
154 Highest Degree Offered Includes
Institutions Accredited at Lower Degree Level and
Candidate at This Degree Level
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Candidate Institutions
Native/ Degree Public Tribal
Private Total A 0 0 0 0
B 1 0 2 3 M
1 0 0 1 D 0 0
2 2 2 0 4
6 Highest Degree Offered Includes
International Institution
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Geographic Distribution

• A B M D Total
• Alaska 2 0 3 1 6
• Idaho 3 2 2 3 10
• Montana 11 3 5 2 21
• Nevada 1 3 2 3 9
• Oregon 14 3 16 10 43
• Utah 4 2 4 4 14
• Washington 29 9 10 8 56
• International 0 1 0 0 1
• 64 23 42 31 160
• Accredited and Candidate Institutions
• Highest Degree Offered

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Definition

• Regional accreditation is a voluntary,
  non-governmental, catalytic process of analytic
  self reflection and peer review that assures
  educational quality and encourages purposeful
  improvement through evaluations based on
  institutional mission, accepted standards of
  quality, and expectations of the public.

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Scope

• NWCCU accreditation
• Applies to the institution as a whole, not its
  units or educational programs
• Is not partial and
• Is not for a fixed period of time.

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Assurances

• Intentions The institution has clearly defined
  and appropriate educational objectives consistent
  with its mission and characteristics.
• Capacity The institution has conditions and
  resources to achieve its objectives.
• Achievement The institution is substantially
  accomplishing its mission and purpose.
• Sustainability The institution is organized,
  staffed, and supported to continue to do so.

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Nutshell

• What?
• With What?
• So What?
• Now What?

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Framework

• The Eligibility Requirements, Standards, and
  Related Policies form a flexible framework of
  qualitative, non-prescriptive statements that
  enables institutions with divergent missions,
  philosophies, and characteristics to manifest
  essential principles of quality and effectiveness.

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Mission Centered Standards
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Comparability

• You never know a line is crooked unless you have
  a straight one to put next to it.
• Socrates

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Relevance

• How does this talk grow corn?
• Hopi Tribal Proverb

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Self Reflection

• Most of us do not look as handsome to others as
  we do to ourselves.
• Assiniboine Tribal Proverb

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Environment

• While we flatter ourselves that things remain the
  same, they are changing under our very eyes from
  year to year, from day to day.
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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Expectations
Outcomes Implied ? Explicit What does that
mean? Achievements Assumed ? Assessed How do
you know? Evidence Anecdotal ? Verifiable Show
me the data!
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Issue

• Accountability is problematic when there is not
  clarity of expectations or agreed-upon goals, and
  that lack of clarity has long been a
  characteristic of social welfare in the United
  States.
• Sheila Suess Kennedy

Accountability is problematic when there is not
clarity of expectations or agreed-upon goals, and
that lack of clarity has long been a
characteristic of higher education in the
United States. Sheila Suess Kennedy
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Barriers
Lack of time Lack of relevance Lack of
will TRADITION!
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Barometer of Change

• You can judge your age by the amount of pain you
  feel when you come in contact with a new idea.
• Pearl Buck

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Homo Academicus
When the center of the universe is discovered, a
lot of people will be disappointed to find they
arent it. Bernard Bailey
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Repudiation

• I believe in looking reality straight in the eye
  and denying it.
• Garrison Keeler

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Pretense
The secret of success is sincerity Once you can
fake that youve got it made. Jean Giraudoux
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Anthem

• It doesnt matter what I say,
• So long as I sing with inflection
• That makes you feel that Ill convey
• Some inner truth of vast reflection.
• But Ive said nothing so far
• And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
• And it dont matter who you are
• If Im doing my job its your resolve that
  breaks.
• Hook (Blues Traveler)

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Innocence

• These are but the shadows of the things that have
  been. That they are what they are, do not blame
  me.
• Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol
  (Charles Dickens)

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Redirection

• When you discover you are riding a dead horse,
  the best strategy is to dismount.
• Dakota Tribal Proverb

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Resolve

• Sometimes we come to realize that just going to
  be going, just talking to be talking, just
  spending to be spending, just rushing to be
  rushing, doesnt always mean much. Periodically
  we need to appraise our past performance, to
  repent and improve, and to resolve to follow
  through the good things we undertake to do.
• Richard L. Evans

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Perspective

• The challenge is for us to see beyond the
  innumerable fragments to the whole, stepping back
  far enough to appreciate how things move and
  change as a coherent entity.
• Margaret J. Wheatley

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Plan

• We need elucidation of the obvious more than
  investigation of the obscure.
• Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Approach

• Method consists of two processes, correlative and
  complementary to each other Analysis of complex
  totalities into their parts and Synthesis of
  parts into their totality.
• Joseph L. Esposito

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Processes

• Analysis - Reductionistic examination of parts to
  acquire knowledge of their properties and
  functions.
• Synthesis - Holistic study of relationships among
  parts to gain understanding of their roles and
  the purpose of the whole in which they exist.

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Characteristics

• Analysis
• Reductionistic
• Take Apart
• Isolate
• Answer Questions

Synthesis Holistic Put Together Correlate Ask
Questions
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Analysis

• Intentions
• Mission
• Goals
• Practices
• Planning
• Actions

Capacity Resources Infrastructure Achievements In
stitutional Student Learning
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Synthesis

• Quality
• Educational
• Institutional
• Stability
• Outcomes
• Operations

Effectiveness Achievements Practices Sustainabili
ty Adaptability Viability
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Thoughts

• It takes a thousand voices
• to tell a single story.
• Native American Proverb
• You see, but you do not observe.
• Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia (Sir
  Arthur Conan Doyle)
• Its never too late to become
• what you might have been.
• George Eliot
• It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
• Walt Disney