Visitors: Jeff Cason, Cathy Vincent, Hannah Ross (LeRoy Graham via zoom)

NECHE Reaccreditation Process

LeRoy Graham provided an overview of the NECHE reaccreditation process.

Co-chaired by Jeff Cason & LeRoy Graham

Preparation of Self-study

Self study for reaccreditation, due by June; 100 pages, addressing our adherence to 9 standards. For each standard, we need to provide

• Description – what we do
• Appraisal – self-evaluation
• Projection – a few bullet points for each standard on what we commit to doing for improvement

Need to be up-front and honest about concerns and shortcomings.

Internal review of self-study

• Drafts chapters will be reviewed first by groups like ILG, Senate, Student Council, program chairs.
• Entire draft will be available online for comment by all faculty, staff and students in mid-April.
• There will also be open forums for feedback.

Visiting Team schedule

• July visit to look at Language Schools and Breadloaf, hope to coincide with meeting of School directors.
• Hoping to send team members to MRY in September/ October. 2 day visit.
• Hope to send one to a school abroad to see how they operate on the ground.
• Nov 3-6 full team visit in Vermont.
• April 2020 decision.

Visiting team

• Chair is President of University of Richmond, was president of Wheaton College in MA.
• Rest of the team we will know in 6-8 weeks.
• Usually a CFO, an administrator with experience in planning, assessment of student learning, student life professional, faculty members.

Key substantive issues

Laurie has identified the following issues that she will ask the team to pay special attention to:

• Financial Sustainability
• Energy 2028
• The Arts
• WFP – since we are shipping document out in May, this will be an unfinished story.
• Envisioning Middlebury
• Assessment of Student Learning
• How we live together (an initiative focused on College residential life)
• Diversity and inclusion

They also want to know about MGIMO (how we are recruiting more Russian students) and Spanish Community Interpreting Program (starting in the fall online).

Jeff Cason — Provost update:

• Recognize that we are in fairly challenging moments/ an unsettling time across the institution with WFP, necessary reduction in workforce, but despite this there’s a ton of potential in these conversations — gives me great hope that when we can unleash the creative energy by turning a corner, this will be great.
• Communications VP search: search firm (Spencer Stewart) has already interviewed a number of us about skillset we are looking for. Looking to bring somebody on board by July 1.
• Campaign readiness: have an ad hoc advancement committee of about 1/3 of the board working with advancement colleagues to lay the groundwork. Transformational goals that emerged from Envisioning Middlebury have morphed as a way to provide a narrative for the campaign. Curricular innovation is part of everything, so not necessarily a separate, discrete goal. Goal 1: Providing expertise the students need (data analysis, written / oral communication, etc.) Goal 2. From Global footprint to Global network – wider impact, better connected. Goal 3. Providing access to the full range of Middlebury experiences to our Middlebury students. (financial aid, immersive learning built in to your education).
• Midd undergrads at the institute: connects to all 3 goals, but particularly the global network. NPTS pilot. Envisioning 6 different programs at MIIS with cohorts of undergrads, so we are like another study abroad site, with students from Michigan, Mississippi, Amherst, Wellesley, etc. MIIS becomes the true west coast campus where more students, faculty go, more exchange among faculty, more MIIS students at schools abroad, etc.
• Housing at MIIS: We have to figure out how to deal with housing. A donor might find this interesting. Exciting ideas like Energy 2028 is also an example of how we can bring the network together.  
• JDJ: Re: Student services, providing more support — have been talking with VP for student affairs at the college (Baishakhi Taylor) about ways to collaborate. (sending people here for new student orientation? Mental health services?). Re: Housing: Been talking with George Lee about this, Barbara has been focusing info gathering on what we have done in the past on this & what we might do, then shared info with the board in January.

JDJ  — VPAA Update:

• WFP: Staff process involved lots of communication at each step. Faculty  met the Tuesday after the ISP letters went out. Lots of focused appropriate questions, and some that suggested a larger share of faculty were not as conscious about what was going on as the staff.
• Senate did heroic work in gathering questions from the faculty into a succinct, actionable, and prioritized memo, which we were able to work through in an afternoon in Council.
• Many faculty pointed out inconsistencies between contract renewal timeline and ISP / WFP timelines. Solution: Double firewall: HR receives ISP apps and doesn’t communicate with academic admin about who has applied, and academic admin doesn’t communicate with HR about contract renewal decisions.
• Based on timeframe for faculty contract renewals, HR will give notifications starting on March 22 to those faculty with seniority whose ISPs have been accepted. March 22 starts the clock on 45 days for the faculty member to sign or not. If it’s a definite no, notify HR. HR will then move down by seniority to the next person.
• In the meantime, by April 30 faculty will learn whether or not their contracts have been renewed.
• For staff, March 11 deadline is the same. HR notifications will come out probably more quickly than for faculty.
• So when do we get to the future state? We know how much work all the project teams did to move us toward a sustainable, thriving future. We need to arrive there within 2 years. But we can’t have all the dollars line up to flip the switch on July 1. Goal is to achieve financial sustainability by FY20.