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January 2008 Committee Conducts University-Wide Self-Study for Accreditation
By Julia Parmley This spring, a team of evaluators from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) will visit the University as part of a reaffirmation of the University’s accreditation. Conducted every 10 years, the process involves a University-wide self-study over 18 months, a site visit, and meetings with the MSCHE evaluation team and GW faculty, students, and staff to assess the University’s mission. “The MSCHE has defined 14 standards for universities to meet,” explains Forrest Maltzman, professor of political science and chair of the self-study’s steering committee on leadership. “We need to prove we meet those standards.” Maltzman says 80 GW faculty, administrators, staff, and students worked on the self-study assessing the University’s performance in meeting the goals outlined in the Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence, an initiative adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2002 to guide GW’s academic growth. The self-study, titled Academic Excellence: Sustaining Momentum, Maximizing Strength, will assist the accreditation team during their assessment, Maltzman says, as well as help the University identify successes and challenges. The self-study evaluates the University on seven areas: undergraduate engagement and challenge; doctoral excellence and signature programs; strategically strengthening and expanding graduate education; faculty scholarship and research; developing a strong sense of community; strengthening GW’s infrastructure; and maintaining a strong financial base. The study concludes with an overview of the challenges the University is facing and recommendations on how to follow the plan. Maltzman says the steering committee and subsequent task forces have met regularly over the past year and a half to research and write the self-study. “The University has made a lot of changes in responding to the strategic plan,” he says. “There’s no doubt GW has made tremendous progress, and I’m very proud of that. But it is a very ambitious plan, and the University has a long way to go.” The self-study will be given to GW President Steven Knapp and presented to the Board of Trustees’ Academic Affairs Committee. Maltzman encourages members of the GW community to read the report and comment on the Web site by February. “The final self-study document provides us with a thorough overview of how we have done in our work pursuing the goals of the University’s Strategic Plan over the last five years,” says Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald R. Lehman. “It teaches us where we may need to rethink what it is we are attempting to do in certain areas, and it helps us solve problems that may be blocking our progress. Most importantly, it indicates to me how seriously our community has been taking the strategic plan as the basis for what we do and how we do things.” Lehman, who says he was impressed with the work of self-study committee members, including Maltzman, Associate Vice President for Planning Craig Linebaugh, and Assistant Vice President for Academic Planning, Institutional Research, and Assessment Cheryl Beil, says the self-study also conveys how important budget planning and funding are to achieving the strategic plan’s goals. “With the arrival of Steven Knapp as president,” says Lehman, “the raising of monies to continue the implementation of the plan is a top priority.” For more information or to read the report, visit www.gwu.edu/~gwaffirm.
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