Kenyon is accredited through the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and is preparing for our dicennial reaffirmation of our accredited status in 2021, culminating in a site visit February 22-23, 2021. Kenyon's reaccreditation process is managed through the Office of Institutional Research.
Accreditation is the process by which colleges and universities verify to an external party that they are meeting the agreed upon quality education standards throughout the institution. Maintaining accreditation allows Kenyon to distribute federal financial aid, offer our students transferable course credit, display the high quality of our degree and more. In essence, accreditation is our proof that Kenyon is doing what it has set out to do.
Kenyon's accreditor is the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) which handles higher education accreditation in the north central region of the U.S. The accreditation reviews themselves are done by peer reviewers, volunteers who hold positions at other institutions but have been trained by HLC to apply the accreditation standards to schools that they visit.
There are various methods, or pathways, by which a school may be accredited through HLC. Kenyon is on the Open Pathway. In the Open Pathway, parts of the accreditation process are ongoing. For instance, Kenyon must submit certain data to HLC every year to verify that we're still in good standing with them.
The biggest event in the accreditation cycle is the comprehensive evaluation which includes a campus visit by peer reviewers. This happens every ten years. February 22-23, 2021, are the dates of our site visit by peer reviewers from HLC.
Even though the site visit is in early 2021, we're already gathering evidence to support our assurance review which outlines to our peer reviewers what we are doing to meet the criteria for accreditation. If you have not already, you will soon be hearing about events, information, and meetings regarding accreditation.
Please be aware of requests for information that may be addressed to you and respond as soon as you are able. Everyone, including students, staff, faculty, and surrounding community members, will be asked to contribute something to the process. Requests are already going out to faculty and staff for supporting documentation. Everyone at Kenyon puts so much into their work and we want to make sure to reflect all of this to our peer reviewers.
As part of Kenyon's reaccreditation activities, Kenyon has submitted a Quality Initiative Proposal to the HLC. Kenyon's Initiative is titled "Expanding Inclusive Excellence" and focuses on expanding activities being piloted in the Natural Science division to other areas on campus.
Kenyon's Quality Initiative Proposal
If you have questions please contact Erika Farfan, director of institutional research at (farfane, 740-427-5571) or Ann Palcisco, associate director of institutional research at (palciscoa, 740-427-5163).