Completing another step in Northwestern’s once-a-decade reaccreditation process, a team of accrediting representatives concluded their on-campus evaluations Wednesday after talking with faculty and students about the NU experience.

Thirteen representatives from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, NU’s accrediting agency, visited both the Chicago and Evanston campuses between Monday and Wednesday.

On Wednesday, University President Henry Bienen received verbal feedback from the team’s leader.

“Informally, we got from the team very positive feedback,” said Stephen Fisher, associate provost for undergraduate education. Fisher added that the feedback was not part of the final report and not an indication of reaccreditation, which could take several months to decide.

Every 10 years, the university undergoes an accreditation process to ensure the stability of its financial and educational practices. This year, the team of representatives focused on interdisciplinary teaching and research.

NU administrators selected the cross-schools topic back in 2002.

To gauge the role of interdisciplinary studies at NU, commission representatives met with faculty and students from undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. Fisher said the team attended about 45 to 50 meetings.

Carl Smith, director of NU’s American Studies program, said meeting with the commission representatives gave him a “nice opportunity” to talk with faculty from other schools about interdisciplinary programs in higher education.

Smith said he viewed the talk with the team as more of a discussion about strengthening the interdisciplinary programs at NU than an evaluation.

“There’s no question that Northwestern is going to get accredited, so it became a discussion of how we do things and how we can do them better,” said Smith, who also is a professor in the English and history departments.

Representatives were looking for students and faculty to “fill in some of the blanks” of what the team already read in NU’s self-prepared report, said Scott Lipscomb, a member of the Committee on the Role of Interdisciplinarity in Faculty Research. The committee was one of four that compiled the university’s report on interdisciplinary teaching and research.

Lipscomb, who met with the commission team, said that the general sense he gleaned from NU faculty representatives and the team was that the university does a good job of promoting interdisciplinary studies.

But NU has “a few wrinkles that need to be ironed out,” said Lipscomb, a professor of music education and music technology.

NU is moving from a department-based institution to one that has many cross-discipline possibilities, Lipscomb said. The challenge is to create a comfortable environment for students and faculty among these changing boundaries.

Communication senior Lisa Hutmacher met the commission team Monday when she served as a guide, leading the team from Norris University Center to Parkes Hall. Hutmacher said the representatives asked her about her experiences at NU and her involvement in interdisciplinary programs.

“I wasn’t quite sure at first what they were going to ask me, but they seemed friendly and genuinely interested in what was going on,” she said.

The commission representatives now will review their evaluations and make recommendations, which will go to the Higher Learning Commission where a panel will review the findings. At that level, the panel could ask for more information or clarification on a finding, Fisher said.

A final evaluation will be reviewed by the commission for approval or denial before a reaccreditation decision is made.

Fisher said he expects the formal report will take several months to complete.

Reach Angela Tablac at [email protected].

Body 2 ———————————————————————–

Group finishes visit to campus for NU’s accreditation

Body 3 ———————————————————————–

 Review, which comes every 10 years, focuses on interdisciplinary programs