January/February 2005 Update

On January 10, 2005, members of all five criterion committees met in Red Wing for an afternoon of self-study business. Meeting at a half-way point between the Winona and Twin Cities campuses reduced travel time and the venue, the St. James Hotel, provided ample private meeting space and opportunities for committees to merge for larger group discussion. The committees continued discussion about the HLC Criteria for Accreditation and the type of institutional data that they will request to allow them to do their evaluation. Participants commented that discussions were lively and collegial, and provided wonderful insight into the many facets of the institution. We had a lot of positive, focused energy that afternoon.

The Resource Team is working hard collecting institutional data to provide to committees. Work on the Resource Center is progressing and will provide a search engine and on-line access to most data for committee members. The Resource Center is scheduled to be introduced in late February and will be linked through the Self-Study webpage.

Diane Nyhammer, Assistant Director for Accreditation Services for HLC and SMU’s staff liaison, visited our campuses on February 2 & 3. This was Ms. Nyhammer’s first visit to Saint Mary’s; she replaced Dr. Cecilia Lopez as SMU’s staff liaison in August 2003. The last visit by an HLC representative was in 1995, in preparation for our last self-study visit. All members of the campus communities were invited. On February 2, Ms. Nyhammer addressed about 35 faculty, staff, and students at the Twin Cities campus to discuss the HLC’s new mission and provide more specifics about the self-study process. Following a tour of the campus, she had an opportunity to talk with the President about the recent history of the institution, our successes and plans for the future. On February 3, Ms. Nyhammer traveled to the Winona campus and addressed about 55 faculty, staff and students at the Winona campus; the address covered the same topics as the previous day. Following a campus tour, she met with members of the Self-Study Steering Committee to answer questions and provide feedback on our process thus far. The goals of the visit were 1) to make Ms. Nyhammer aware of the many changes in the institution over the past ten years; 2) to provide the campus community an opportunity to learn about self-study from a representative of the HLC; and 3) to provide an opportunity for members of the Self-Study Steering Committee to clarify issues regarding the new Criteria for Accreditation. Ms. Nyhammer was well received and left Saint Mary’s knowing much more about who we are and what we do for our students. Mission accomplished!