Provost’s Office

2016 Comprehensive Review

In the Fall 2016, LSSU completed a full comprehensive review leading re-affirmation of our institutional accreditation. The Higher Learning Commission actions and reports are summarized below, along with a record of institutional activities leading up to re-affirmation.

March 8, 2017 HLC issues determination of Continued Accreditation

• IAC Action 3/2/2017
  • Continued Accreditation and interim monitoring
  • Standard Accreditation Pathway Determination
  • Reaffirmation Standard Pathway Action Letter
  • Change of Status Action letter (MBA); Change visit report; Institutional Response.
• Institutional Response to Final Report 2/6/2017
• Reaffirmation Review: Peer Review Team 2016 Final Report 12/16/2016

November 7-8, 2016 HLC Reaccreditation Site Visit

• LSSU will host a team of reviewers from the Higher Learning Commission in November as they conduct a comprehensive review leading to re-accreditation of the overall institution. The team will validate the claims made in the Assurance Argument regarding our achievement of each of the the five Criterion for Accreditation. Public comment regarding our re-accreditation is encouraged, see the Public Comment section below.
• 2016 Assurance Argument – October 8, 2016 (final edition, indexed and searchable)
• Letter of Notification
• Public Comment
• Federal Compliance Report 2016
  • Appendix A
  • Appendices B-F
  • Appendices G-M
  • Appendix N
  • Appendices O-S
  • Appendices T-V
  • Appendix W
  • Appendices X-Y

Fall 2016 – Pre-visit Orientation materials

• Questions for Everyone
• Questions for Students
• Board of Trustee Update (September 8, 2016)
• Reaccreditation Overview, with references (August 2016)
• Campus Visit Summary (August 2016)
• Viewing the Assurance Argument – directions for online access (August 2016)
• Institutional Accreditation update (July 2016)

June 2016 – HLC Documentation http://hlcommission.org

• Criteria for Accreditation (June 2016)
• Assumed Practices (expire 31Aug2016)
• Revised Assumed Practices (effective 1Sep2017)
• Determining Qualified Faculty (March 2016) HLC website

March-April 2015

• The university completed a Multi-Location Site Vist conducted by an HLC reviewer. The reviewer evaluated regional center operations and documented, to the satisfaction of the Higher Learning Commission, the quality and performance of our operation at these locations. No monitoring reports were required. The University is using the feedback provided by this report for continued improvement. HLC Multi-Location Evaluation Visit Report (July 25, 2015)
  • Petoskey Regional Center, 1515 Howard St., Petoskey, MI 49770
  • Escanaba Regional Center, 2001 N. Lincoln, Escanaba, MI 49829

May 2014

• HLC Guidelines: “Determining Qualified Faculty: Guidelines for Institutions and Peer Reviewers May 2014″

July 28, 2013

The HLC has adopted new policies which replaced the older Minimum Expectations. These include:

• Criteria for Accreditation CRRT.B.10.010 July 2013
• Assumed Practices expire 31aug2017
• IObligations of Affiliation INST.B.30.20 July 2013

March 11, 2013

The Higher Learning Commission has reviewed and accepted the monitoring reports submitted in January and no other reports or visits are required.  Our next accreditation visit is scheduled for the 2016-2017 academic year.

The HLC Analysis of the LSSU Monitoring Reports concluded  “Lake Superior State University submitted an excellent and thorough set of monitoring reports. The report indicates remarkable progress in all four areas of concern to the 2011 comprehensive visit team. The University is commended for its effectiveness in addressing all of these issues and for setting forth the accomplishments of the University with respect to these issues in well organized and informative monitoring reports.”

February 1, 2013

The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association has completed a ten-year reaccreditation process and awarded the university “Accredited” status.  LSSU’s next scheduled Evaluation will be in 2016-2017.  The HLC’s formal notification and official record of action letter was received on August 24, 2012.

LSSU hosted the reaccreditation site-visit on October 24-26, 2011. The LSSU Self-Study report and associated documents which were submitted in association with this visit are available from the navigation menu on the left. Approximately two months after the visit, the HLC visitation team returned with their findings: Assurance Section: Report of a Comprehensive Visit.

The report noted that LSSU has met all the required criteria for continued accreditation. We were however also required to report to the HLC on the progress in four areas through monitoring reports which were submitted in advance of the February 1, 2013 deadline.

LSSU Monitoring Reports:

• 2013 LSSU Monitoring Report #1 Promotion Tenure – Addresses establishment of a clearly defined Tenure and Promotion process aligned with the faculty collective bargaining agreement.
• 2013 LSSU Monitoring Report #2 Information Technology – Addresses the IT Strategic plan and Professional Development/Training Plan for IT personnel.
• 2013 LSSU Monitoring Report #3 Assessment – Address development of a university assessment plan outlining a clear process for collecting, disseminating and implementing assessment results.
• 2013 LSSU Monitoring Report #4 Shared Governance – Addresses how the Shared Governance model has progressed and results from the model as it has impacted the new reorganizational structure.