WIU undergoes NCA accreditation review
Jason Potkanski
Issue date: 2/2/01 Section: News
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Nine members of the North Central Association will perform the important process of accreditation for WIU Sunday through Wednesday.
Accreditation is an outside review of WIU using widely accepted standards. The NCA has been giving its approval to WIU since 1913.
To prepare for the NCA review, WIU formed a Self-Study Steering Committee in 1997. The committee, headed by Academic Provost Burton Witthuhn, has prepared a large volume entitled "The 2001 NCA Self-Study Report." The report is available online at www.wiu.edu/nca2001.
Witthuhn has been actively promoting the accreditation process by visiting organizations and giving presentations. Witthuhn has given public presentations as well as making the faculty senate and the Student Government Association aware of the accreditation process.
"(Accreditation) is a big thing for the university. Without it, Western is unable to borrow money that comes from the government to run our institution," Witthuhn said.
The report addresses and outlines changes to the campus since the last NCA visit in 1990. The NCA had several concerns which WIU President Donald Spencer had to deal with since taking his position in 1994.
"The NCA looks at everything about the institution and gives us some helpful advice about what we may be able to do better," Spencer said.
An issue the NCA raised in 1990 and is also a concern in 2001 is the issue of faculty salaries. WIU salaries have lagged behind comparable institutions in Illinois, possibly causing potential faculty members to seek jobs at other schools.
"We don't know for sure how many applicants we may not have been able to hire, but common sense suggests salary is a key ingredient in the hiring process," Spencer said. "We haven't had to do a study because we know what those studies would suggest."
Spencer said he has looked at options for reducing the number of faculty positions as well as reallocating money from other areas. Faculty salaries was the No. 1 funding request to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
Accreditation is an outside review of WIU using widely accepted standards. The NCA has been giving its approval to WIU since 1913.
To prepare for the NCA review, WIU formed a Self-Study Steering Committee in 1997. The committee, headed by Academic Provost Burton Witthuhn, has prepared a large volume entitled "The 2001 NCA Self-Study Report." The report is available online at www.wiu.edu/nca2001.
Witthuhn has been actively promoting the accreditation process by visiting organizations and giving presentations. Witthuhn has given public presentations as well as making the faculty senate and the Student Government Association aware of the accreditation process.
"(Accreditation) is a big thing for the university. Without it, Western is unable to borrow money that comes from the government to run our institution," Witthuhn said.
The report addresses and outlines changes to the campus since the last NCA visit in 1990. The NCA had several concerns which WIU President Donald Spencer had to deal with since taking his position in 1994.
"The NCA looks at everything about the institution and gives us some helpful advice about what we may be able to do better," Spencer said.
An issue the NCA raised in 1990 and is also a concern in 2001 is the issue of faculty salaries. WIU salaries have lagged behind comparable institutions in Illinois, possibly causing potential faculty members to seek jobs at other schools.
"We don't know for sure how many applicants we may not have been able to hire, but common sense suggests salary is a key ingredient in the hiring process," Spencer said. "We haven't had to do a study because we know what those studies would suggest."
Spencer said he has looked at options for reducing the number of faculty positions as well as reallocating money from other areas. Faculty salaries was the No. 1 funding request to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.