The contributions of more than 80 faculty, staff and administrators working to draft the Assurance Argument and Federal Compliance report for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Reaffirmation of Accreditation process were recently recognized.

UNL, a member of the Higher Learning Commission that accredits post-secondary institutions in the North Central region, has spent the past two years preparing for the peer review site visit scheduled for Oct. 24-25, 2016.

During an Aug. 28 reception, Laurie Bellows, associate dean of graduate studies and HLC liaison, thanked the participants for achieving several key milestones.

“We are well-positioned for the review and feel most confident that with your continued engagement, we’ll achieve reaffirmation,” she told the group.

This past spring, five committees worked to draft key points for the Assurance Argument and one committee worked to complete the Federal Compliance review. These work groups submitted drafts that were compiled into one document and turned over to UNL’s HLC editor, Ellen Weissinger, in July.

The HLC leadership team also has met with more than 20 campus groups, including the Research Council, UNOPA, the Nebraska Alumni Association and university communicators, to educate stakeholders about how they can contribute to the process.

The report on UNL’s Quality Initiative, a two-year project that engaged faculty and staff in systematic conversations about how to promote undergraduates’ career development through curriculum, advising and mentoring, was submitted to the HLC in August and can be viewed here.

Campus stakeholders will continue to work on the HLC documents and processes this fall. A draft of the Assurance Argument will be circulated to vice chancellors and deans and they will gather feedback from their constituents.

The HLC leadership team plans to have the Assurance Argument finalized by April and available for public comment soon after. Students will also be sent a survey from HLC in April.

When HLC team members visit in October 2016, they will engage in scheduled conversations with people across campus about the quality of UNL’s programs and processes.

“The HLC Leadership Team has diligently and successfully engaged faculty, staff and all campus stakeholders in this important campus conversation,” said Ronnie Green, interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. “And the work groups certainly played a critical role in getting us to this point in the process.

“However, our work as a campus is just beginning, so I encourage all of our UNL family to be actively involved in the reaccreditation process as we move forward in its next steps.”

For more information, please visit:

• The Reaffirm 2016-2017 website to learn more about the Comprehensive Evaluation process and the HLC Criteria for Accreditation.

• The updated Strategic Compass and Mission Statement.