Middle States Monday, Vol. 3: The Self-Study Executive Summary
Middle States Monday is a new series of announcements and information that will run in the Daily Digest to help students, faculty and staff prepare for our Middle States Reaccreditation Virtual Visit, scheduled for March 24 – 26, 2021.
Use this link to view other installments in the Middle States Monday series.
The Accreditation process includes a comprehensive self-study that addresses the standards outlined by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
The full SUNY New Paltz Self-Study Report for 2020-21 has been submitted to Middle States and published online.
Below, find the Executive Summary of our Self-Study Report.
SUNY New Paltz is a vibrant comprehensive public institution that strives to provide the highest quality education to an increasingly diverse student body. Our strength lies in our grounding in the liberal arts; student-centered pedagogy; rigorous, innovative, and varied program and co-curricular learning opportunities; and extensive student support structures. New Paltz’s distinction as a top institution in the northeast has been achieved through the first-rate teaching and intellectual depth of the faculty, the highly skilled and committed administration and staff, and the College’s unwavering focus on students’ education and their success.
The self-study is the product of a two-year process of analysis by a broad and diverse group of faculty, staff, and administrators charged with evaluating and describing the College through the lens of the Middle States Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation and our own institutional priorities identified for the self-study. Organizationally, the self-study report begins with an introduction to SUNY New Paltz. Following our analysis of each of the seven standards, we present findings and opportunities for improvement and innovation. Below is a synopsis of our findings and recommendations for future action.
Standard 1: Mission and Goals
This section introduces SUNY New Paltz’s mission and then goes on to describe the College’s Strategic Plan—initiated since our last reaccreditation review—and how we use it to set priorities, allocate resources, measure progress, and evaluate options. Continued investments in key campus goals facilitate ongoing institutional success and renewal; they set the stage for the launch of our first comprehensive capital campaign in 2014. In this section we also describe how assessments conducted through the lens of our mission help the College to gauge our effectiveness and protect our institutional health and well-being. The standard concludes with a call to undertake a comprehensive review of the mission.
Standard 2: Ethics and Integrity
This section presents a detailed analysis of SUNY New Paltz’s commitment to ethics and integrity in the areas of academic and intellectual freedom; freedom of expression; diversity, equity, and inclusion; the effective management of grievances; avoidance of conflicts of interest; fair and impartial practices for employees; honesty and truthfulness in internal and external communications; and affordability and accessibility. The College’s need to continue to explore creative ways to hire and retain a diverse faculty and staff, as well as opportunities for continued investigation of cost-savings measures related to textbook choices and course fees are presented as growth opportunities.
Standard 3: Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience
This section describes SUNY New Paltz’s rigorous curriculum, noting that it is rooted in knowledge, skills, and values of liberal learning balanced with professional preparation. Sustainability, an institutional priority, and our new General Education (GE) program are then discussed as central features in our educational vision, with GE introducing undergraduate students to disciplines, ways of thinking, and ways of knowing. Our graduate programs, whose focus is on preparing students for professional career paths, are described in this section, as is our commitment to student-centered teaching and applied-learning opportunities. We describe our expansion of online and hybrid instruction, and our ongoing support for online instructors, as part of our commitment to our institutional priority of increasing access to a SUNY New Paltz education. Information describing the campus community’s attention to issues of diversity and inclusion is included in this standard, as is a description of our commitment to the composition and credentials of the faculty. We also describe the variety of assessment activities and faculty resources that support teaching excellence. The standard ends with a proposal to develop a system to recognize and compensate faculty who mentor or supervise high-impact learning experiences such as fieldwork, internships, independent studies, honors theses, and graduate theses.
Standard 4: Support of the Student Experience
This section describes the ways we support the student experience from recruitment to retention, to graduation, and beyond. Multiple systems support student success, including mental health support, tutoring services, accommodations for students with disabilities, assistance with internships, and ultimately employment or advancement to higher study. Also described is how methodical assessments and focused responses to assessment findings have resulted in significant changes to academic advising and contributed to positive trends in student retention. Regulation of athletics, student life, and other extracurricular activities and policies, protocols, and safeguards governing student record retention are also discussed in detail. A suggested area for improvement included in this standard is generating new ways to increase support for student mental health needs.
Standard 5: Educational Effectiveness Assessment
This section describes the central role that assessment plays at SUNY New Paltz in facilitating our above-average state and national retention and graduation rates, as well as in advancing student learning and student experiences. From designing, administering, analyzing, and interpreting assessments to using assessment findings, all across the campus there is active involvement in assessing educational effectiveness. Also illustrated in this section are findings from the self-study revealing the continued evolution and growth of an authentic culture of assessment and the integration of assessment in operational structures such as educational offerings and student services. Our carefully administered, organized, and systematic assessment processes have evolved into a living and ongoing process on our campus. To demonstrate the value placed on assessment findings, several examples of how we act on assessment results are included. The standard concludes with the observation that although we have a mature system of assessment in place, the College could do more to acknowledge and celebrate the work that faculty, professional and classified staff, and administrators do to maintain momentum in assessment.
Standard 6: Planning, Resources, and Institutional Improvement
This section describes the College’s planning processes, resources, and structures and their sufficiency in fulfilling our mission and goals. The development and implementation of our Strategic Plan are discussed, as are our integrated planning and assessment processes; the resources allocated to support the design and delivery of programs and initiatives; the ways we maintain and expand physical and technical infrastructure; and our principles for acquiring, retaining, and developing human resources. Also detailed in this section are the College’s careful fiscal planning and the expansion of the culture of assessment in administrative areas. The section concludes with two suggestions: first, that we develop an academic plan, which if accomplished would create more rapid ways to develop innovative academic programs; and second, that we more fully integrate our institutional priorities of diversity, inclusion, and sustainability into every component of strategic planning.
Standard 7: Governance, Leadership, and Administration
This section describes the institution’s governance structure and the ways our shared governance structures allow the College to operate as an autonomous academic institution. Beginning with the governance of the State University of New York, the section goes on to discuss the Board of Trustees, College Council, President and College administration, faculty governance, and student governance. The concerted actions of governance at multiple levels have resulted in significant progress in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, and in developing a culture of philanthropy. Multiple efforts to enhance the educational functioning of the College and to foster the experience of shared community are also presented. We close with the suggestion that the reorganization and redefinition of the Provost’s duties and reporting structures, designed to improve stability in that position, should be monitored for effectiveness.
Interested in learning more about the Middle States Reaccreditation process? Visit the MSCHE online or head to our website for a list of resources related to New Paltz’s accreditation status.