During October, the UMB community can read the draft report and offer feedback before the evaluation team site visit in the spring.
Photo: President Jarrell gives opening remarks at the town hall.
“Accreditation is the most important activity a university will undergo, so we really do appreciate people staying engaged, and we want as many people engaged as possible,” University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) provost and executive vice president Roger J. Ward, EdD, JD, MSL, MPA, told participants at one of three town halls held this fall to update the University community about the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) reaccreditation process.
Ward and University of Maryland School of Dentistry Dean Mark Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA, who serve as MSCHE steering committee co-chairs, were joined by UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, on Oct. 7 at an in-person town hall at the SMC Campus Center. A hybrid town hall was held Sept. 24 at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG), with a final one held virtually Oct. 8.
Every eight years, UMB goes through an evaluation by MSCHE, one of seven institutional accreditors recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. As part of the accreditation process, the University must complete an institutional self-study that carefully considers its educational programs and services, with particular attention to student learning and achievement, and determines how well these programs and services accomplish the institution’s goals, fulfill its mission, and meet MSCHE standards.
In the spring, the steering committee’s seven working groups at UMB turned in drafts of the self-study report to Ward and Reynolds. Now, the University community has an opportunity to provide feedback on the draft, which will be finalized by February.
“There’s a lot to be gained by looking at the self-study and how you can be better about what you do here. This conversation — of course it’s about the self-study — but it's also about, how do we come across, how do we look our own selves in the mirror and say, ‘How can we make this institution better?’ Because that is really part of this,” Jarrell said.
Reynolds pointed out during the virtual town hall that accreditation allows UMB to pursue its academic mission as well as qualify for federal support, particularly federal financial aid for students.
“Broad participation is foundational to successful self-studies,” he said. “It really helps demonstrate that, in fact, there is a collective commitment to continuous improvement. The self-study is intended to serve a broader purpose than simply compliance. It’s an opportunity for UMB to reflect on our strategic priorities as well as evaluate our institutional progress.”
Opportunities for Improvement
Gregory C. Spengler, MPA, associate vice president for institutional effectiveness, Office of the Provost, who is chair of UMB’s logistics committee and the MSCHE accreditation liaison officer, shared during each of the three town halls the 20 “opportunities for improvement” that the steering committee proposed for the University in the self-study.
He said one of the desired outcomes of the self-study process is to be engaged in an inclusive and transparent self-appraisal process to produce a self-study draft that demonstrates UMB is in compliance with Middle States’ seven standards and their requirements.
“Our 22-member steering committee proposed opportunities for improvement to move UMB further along on this quest for excellence in graduate and professional education, research, clinical activities, and service for the public,” Spengler said. “As a result of our self-study, UMB believes that we comply with these requirements, so we’re proposing about 20 opportunities for improvement.”
Some examples of the opportunities for improvement are to develop a strategic plan for artificial intelligence (Standard II — Ethics and Integrity); develop a performance dashboard around academic program review and enrollment trends (Standard III — Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience); continue to optimize mental health and wellness supports for students (Standard IV — Support of the Student Experience); and include employees and students in the assessment of plans for improving near-campus vibrancy (Standard VI — Planning, Resources, and Institutional Improvement).
After Spengler outlined these opportunities for improvement, town hall participants were asked to provide feedback on about a third of them through live online polling. All members of the UMB community can view the self-study report outline and provide feedback online.
Next Steps
The next steps in the process are the preliminary visit by the peer evaluation team chair Dec. 10 ahead of the team’s visit in the spring. Joseph McCarthy, PhD, provost and senior vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh, recently was named the chair.
During the site visit in the spring, the evaluation team will review the self-study report and meet with students, faculty, and staff before providing recommendations to the Middle States commission. The commission will act on those recommendations in summer 2025 — about 2½ years after the University began its reaccreditation process.
The site visit process will also include a visit to USG, where UMB’s schools of dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and social work hold programs that are serving nearly 900 students this fall. Ward said during the USG town hall that he had toured the dental clinic there and found it remarkable.
“It is those facilities that the team chair is going to want to see,” he said. “Middle States wants to assure that whatever we offer our students on the Baltimore campus, nothing less is being offered at any additional location. So we’re pleased to have invested in the resources here to make sure students have a similar learning experience.”
Anne Khademian, PhD, MPA, executive director of USG, noted that UMB’s programs at the Rockville, Md., campus are driving academic innovation.
“It’s so vital that we understand the goals and the priorities of all of our partner institutions so that we can meet the needs and embrace the expectations of students, staff, and faculty and be a real, integral partner in your success here at Shady Grove,” she said.
At the Baltimore town hall, Jarrell said he recently participated in a peer evaluation site visit at another university.
“One of the most impressive things there was when we met with faculty, when we met with staff, when we met with students, they were all enthusiastic, full of energy, excited about the site visit, and clearly there to make a difference,” he said. “And so I urge you to keep your level of energy up, because we will need it for the preliminary site visit.”
Spengler said UMB will be holding readiness rallies in the spring to ramp up enthusiasm before the site visit.
“This is because it occurs so infrequently, and it is so important for UMB as an institution,” he said. “It’s imperative that we all be very enthusiastic and very informed about the reason and the meaning and the value of this reaccreditation site visit.”