HLC evaluation teams will visit NMSU campuses April 28-30
New Mexico State University administrators, front row from left, Provost Waded Cruzado, Cynda Clary, self-study coordinator, and President Michael Martin join with faculty, staff and students who have been engaged in the self-study process culminating in NMSU in 3D – Dedicated, Diverse, Dynamic.
Photo by Darren Phillips
New Mexico State University will reach the culmination of its twoyear self-study in pursuit of reaccreditation April 28-30 when evaluation teams representing The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools visit the Las Cruces, Grants and Doña Ana campuses.
Faculty, staff, students and other constituents will have the chance to be directly engaged in the visit during a series of open forums on the Las Cruces campus the afternoon of April 28.
Every 10 years, NMSU conducts an extensive institutional selfstudy to prepare for its reaccreditation evaluation by the HLC. NMSU was first accredited by HLC in 1926, with the last full review in 1998. The evaluation team will visit the institution as part of the process to validate the content of the self-study report submitted to them in February.
“NMSU is a very good university and our self-study documents our strength and our progress. We’re confident the accreditation team will be impressed,” said NMSU President Michael Martin.
Waded Cruzado, executive vice president and provost, said the effort has involved many individuals and is an example of good teamwork.
“Hundreds of people have gathered information, analyzed what we do in depth and engaged our constituents in discussions,” Cruzado said. “This intensive period of self-study demonstrates our ability to work together, to meet challenges and to achieve a common purpose.”
Both Martin and Cruzado would like to encourage everyone to take the opportunity to attend an open forum.
“The open forums will provide opportunities for all interested parties to appreciate what we do at NMSU, participate in the accreditation process and have any accreditation questions answered,” Martin said.
“The open forums are a good way for faculty, staff and students to give life to the NMSU experience for the visitors,” Cruzado said. “The reality of life at NMSU is best expressed by the people who live it everyday.”
New Mexico State University in 3D: Dedicated, Diverse, Dynamic, the title for the self-study report, was chosen because it reflects much of what is unique about NMSU and much about the depth and breadth of the self-study engagement process, Cruzado said.
“We are dedicated to our land-grant mission of teaching, research, extension education and service and we are diverse in the broadest sense. Our faculty, staff and students come from diverse backgrounds and we cherish open and thoughtful dialogue as we learn. We are dynamic, changing to meet the challenges of the future while maintaining our standards of excellence,” Cruzado said.
The HLC offers selected institutions the option of focusing the selfstudy on specific issues critical to the pursuit of continuous improvement and educational excellence. NMSU Las Cruces has chosen the Foundations of Excellence® in the First College Year (FoE) as its special emphasis focus. This chapter of the report discusses how NMSU has addressed recommendations of its FoE Task Force and Dimension Review Teams to improve student success in the first year of college and provides an initial assessment of the results of these efforts.
“A special emphasis sends a message to everyone that providing our students with a solid foundation to launch their futures is a priority,” Cruzado said.
The Doña Ana campus will be visited by a separate HLC team as part of its process for independent accreditation.
“This visit is unique because it will be a systemic effort. NMSU Grants will be going through the exercise with the Las Cruces campus and our Doña Ana Community College will undergo a process to seek independent accreditation. It is an opportunity to showcase the best that we have,” Cruzado said.
She said independent accreditation for the community college campuses allows them to be more closely benchmarked against their peers.
“Each of our campuses has a different mission. Alamogordo and Carlsbad are already independently accredited and Grants is looking at that option for the future,” she said.
For more information on the reaccreditation process, visit http://accreditation.nmsu.edu