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A self-study is an opportunity. Ten years is a long time in the history of an institution. The pace of year-to-year change, even the perspective of a five-year strategic planning cycle, cannot provide the depth of review—and the unique vantage point—of the self-study mandated by the accreditation process. The
students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees engaged in this process at North Central College for the past two years viewed it as just that, a rare opportunity—to critique, reflect and learn, and set the stage for improvements in the decade to come.
We found much that was positive. The first 10 years of the 21st century were a time of extraordinary progress at the College, driven by mission-related priorities. North Central strengthened its core, liberal arts curriculum; made strategic investments in academic programs such as education and fine arts that brought substantial gains in undergraduate admissions; introduced major changes in the first-year experience of undergraduates and the honors program;
revamped student services and athletic programs to tie them more closely to mission and engage students in a wide variety of activities off campus and around the world; and maintained its fiscal health, while dramatically upgrading facilities and learning spaces across the campus.
But we did not need a self-study to know that the past decade was a period of great successes at North Central College. What we learned from this review was the how and the why of those achievements, and where we fell short. The College has become a much more self-consciously future-oriented organization over these 10 years, relating mission to planning to programs to outcomes. Incremental changes, introduced year after year in pursuit of a larger goal, add up, as is seen in the significant improvement of faculty salaries and retirement benefits for all employees since 1999. The role of technology in teaching and learning and administration—and its acceptance and utilization by faculty and staff (with students leading the way)—is another example of a dramatic change that reflects a cumulative build-up of investments, none of which were seen as revolutionary at the time. Similar patterns may be seen in the growing internationalization of the campus over the decade, and the substantial expansion of service and study-abroad opportunities. Recognition within the past two strategic plans of the importance of preparing students for a more interconnected, multicultural world has translated into programmatic initiatives and investments that, cumulatively, have brought major changes in student experiences.
Since the last accreditation review, North Central has become a more learning-focused organization and a more connected organization, both with the constituents it serves and the wider world. Here, language provided by the Higher Learning Commission has served as a helpful framework for thinking
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about what it is we want to achieve, and as an occasional prod. Assessment of student learning has gone from a subject of uneven acceptance across the institution to a universal commitment, albeit with uneven results. Major investments in competitive faculty compensation and in student research and faculty scholarship; programmatic commitments outside the classroom that have enhanced resources for student learning; policy changes and additional resources for faculty and staff development; a new curriculum with core requirements aimed at preparing every student for a lifetime of learning — all reflect the College’s intense focus over the decade on the mission goal of supporting and fostering a community of learners. And that goal has not been addressed in an ivory tower vacuum. From a new curriculum implemented in 2000 that made explicit connections across disciplines, to the planning (with neighborhood input), funding and construction of new facilities to be shared with the community, to a commitment to service that touches students, faculty and staff, and extends to partnerships with numerous schools in the suburbs and the inner city, the College has engaged its constituents and the wider community in a two-way conversation which has redefined those connections for the 21st century.
A recurring theme in North Central’s evolution over the past decade is
“back to the future.” In drilling down to what is most distinctive about the College, planning goals and strategic investments have reinforced the historic undergraduate, residential character of the institution, and its mission, grounded in the liberal arts, of preparing students to be “informed, involved, principled and productive citizens and leaders over their lifetime”—taking advantage of North Central’s fortunate location in Naperville and the Chicago metropolitan area. In the 1970s and 1980s, when the College was the only institution serving the higher education needs of Naperville, “adult” programs were a significant area of investment and growth. In the years that followed, as numerous institutions brought their programs to off-campus locations in the community—utilizing adjunct faculty—it became clear that the model of campus-based, traditional-age undergraduate education grounded in a full-time faculty committed to teaching excellence that had served North Central—and its graduates—well throughout most of the College’s history was our
comparative advantage and greatest strength in looking to the future. The 36 percent growth of the full-time undergraduate student population over the decade—without a diminution in its character and quality, and with an increase in its diversity—reflects the wisdom of that judgment. But that success was about more than a carefully calibrated admission game-plan. Distinctive programs (such as Leadership, Ethics and Values and faculty mentors for athletic teams); unique facilities (including the “stealth classroom” stadium, the Res/Rec Center, the Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center, Meiley-Swallow Hall and the Rolland Center “cyber-café”); sustained investments in historic areas of programmatic strength (education, fine arts, general education);
innovative policies promoting accountability, transparency and employee development (posting of audit reports, creation of an independent audit committee, opening the Dyson Wellness Center to employees and families, investment in TIAA-CREF benefits)—each were part of a larger whole, both witnessing for and strengthening the distinctiveness of North Central College and its mission.
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This Self-Study evidences much pride within the College over the achievements of the past 10 years, but also makes clear that the institution is aware of where we fall short of our goals—and of the improvements required in the years to come. The need for new facilities in the sciences is a repeated theme—as is the challenge of finding the resources to fund that structure, as part of the Sesquicentennial Capital Campaign. The hopes expressed for the College’s new Center for Teaching and Learning and the First-Year Experience Program introduced in the fall of 2009, reflect a continuing concern that retention to graduation must be raised. Progress towards a culture of assessment, while significant over the decade, has not yet produced the institution-wide feedback to improve learning outcomes that we seek. While the College’s financial position is strong, the recession of 2008-2009 has reminded us that a tuition- driven institution must find ways to restrain the growth of financial aid; and has made success in achieving the endowment goals in the Sesquicentennial Campaign even more of an imperative. And when that campaign is concluded, the institution will face new challenges in fundraising and leadership as long- time administrators retire or move on.
In looking to the future, and the improvements required, it is appropriate to end with one of the great achievements of the past decade that has perhaps received too little attention in this Self-Study—the quiet transformation of the faculty and the Board of Trustees. It is these men and women who will lead the institution through the challenges to come. Nearly 50 percent of tenure- track faculty have been hired since 1999. They have joined an institution where expectations and aspirations are very high, and have embraced its mission and culture. They are well-positioned to lead the College forward, fulfilling their substantial role in shared governance. An equally consequential—and successful—transition has taken place in the Board of Trustees. Under the careful guidance of the Committee on Trusteeship, North Central has found ways to continue to utilize the wisdom and experience of life trustees who steered the College through the sometimes choppy waters of the last 50 years, while adding diversity and new perspectives to a corps of 36 active and engaged trustees, two-thirds of whom are new to the Board since 1999.
Building on the lessons we have learned in the self-study process, and
welcoming the insights of the HLC team, we believe the future is in good hands.
Request for Continued Accreditation
Over the past four years, North Central College has engaged the campus community in strategic planning and self-study for re-accreditation. Within these two exercises, more than 100 faculty, staff, students, trustees and alumni formally participated in working groups. Through these two processes we have identified successes, challenges and plans for the future and advanced evidence that we exceed each of the criteria for accreditation. We look forward to the visit from the Higher Learning Commission from January 25-27, 2010, and request that North Central College be accredited for a period of 10 years, with its next PEAQ process visit to occur during the 2019-2020 academic year.
