Update: 2024 Higher Learning Commission site visit, March 11-12

Dear colleagues,

The university will host an accreditation visit team from the Higher Learning Commission next Monday and Tuesday (March 11 and 12). This comprehensive review is a standard part of the university’s accreditation cycle, reaffirming the university’s compliance with the Higher Learning Commission’s criteria for accreditation. It is also an opportunity to speak to the reviewers about our mission, the university community, our programs and our progress since the last visit in 2017. The visit is the culmination of the work of dozens of people who have served on the criterion teams or contributed their expertise. The visit structure now allows those individuals and the university community as a whole to engage with the review.

A campus announcement last week indicated that room locations for all open sessions would be shared. You can now find these scheduled open sessions and their room locations within the university’s Higher Learning Commission Accreditation webpages. There you also can access the full “assurance argument” submitted to reviewers in advance of the visit.

The open sessions Monday are organized around the five criteria. Members of the criteria teams will be in attendance, but these sessions are open to everyone in the university community. In each session, the reviewers will ask a series of questions to gain greater insight into the university. Criterion 1 focuses on our mission; Criterion 2 focuses on integrity; Criterion 3 focuses on teaching and learning; Criterion 4 focuses on evaluation and improvement; and Criterion 5 focuses on institutional effectiveness, resources and planning.

The three open forums Tuesday are specific to faculty, staff and students. At the faculty-only forum, no administrators (including deans and associate deans) will be present, although academic department heads and chairs are welcome to participate. At the staff-only forum, senior administrators (e.g., above the level of directors or associate deans in the colleges related to student affairs) also should not be present. This is to facilitate an open exchange with the reviewers. For the student-only session, all students — including graduate and professional students — are welcome to attend.

The site visit is an opportunity for us as a university to reflect on our strengths, our progress since the last site visit and how we seek to meet challenges while living our mission of providing the broadest access to the highest levels of intellectual excellence. Thank you in advance for your collective participation in the site visit.

These events will take place in person as large group sessions and relevant materials are available electronically.

To request accommodations such as ASL or captioning, please contact vpape@uic.edu.

Sincerely,

Karen Colley
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Robert A. Barish
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs

Nikos Varelas
Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Effectiveness

For more information, please contact:
Office of the Provost
provost@uic.edu