Accreditation Conversations

Accreditation in the U.S. is unique in many ways — one reason why understanding how it works across all the various levels is so important. We spoke with André Foisy, Executive Director for Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Planning Analytics at Excelsior University, regarding his time as a recent CHEA Fellow to get an inside look at how CHEA develops, initiates, and enforces various policies and requirements. Though CHEA is the accreditor of accreditors, institutions are also their members who they serve and support as well. According to André, embracing an anthropological lens to understanding the nuances of accreditation can help educational establishments better understand what accreditation means, how to achieve each standard, and how to best leverage accreditation for positive outcomes.Join us as we discuss:How institutional accreditation is interpreted, negotiated, and leveraged as a vital toolThe importance of Linda Suskie's five dimensions of quality and the influence of these on André's work with signals of qualityThe impact of AALHE on the assessment community

“Accreditation isn't something we have to do. It's something we should want to do as part of our mission to support students and provide them with a high-quality, high-value educational experience.” - Dr. Roberta Ross-FisherYet this mindset can take a while to fully grasp. Dr. Roberta Ross-Fisher, higher education consultant of Global Educational Consulting, LLC, says many see accreditation as a carrot and a stick — accreditation is the stick and quality education is the carrot. But according to Dr. Ross-Fisher, this mindset is backwards. Accreditation is all carrot, no stick — fueled by pure intentions with students in mind. But this doesn't mean there aren't obstacles in the way. Fortunately, there are many thought leaders and colleagues actively advocating and working to break down barriers in the way of providing the best possible education across programs and institutions..Join us as we discuss:Recognizing and addressing current challenges in accreditationAccreditation as a vehicle for optimal collaborationPotential future directions of accreditation in higher education

Our host Dr. Amy Dykens sits down with Dr. Cynthia Jackson Hammond, a passionate advocate for academic quality and institutional autonomy in higher education. Dr. Jackson Hammond is a distinguished figure in the field with her extensive work in support of institutional autonomy as president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). CHEA is the only national organization in the United States focused exclusively on higher education accreditation and quality assurance, recognizing accrediting organizations and advocating for institutions.They discuss the federal and state legislative impact on higher education and the significance of CHEA recognition on accreditation. Dr. Jackson Hammond highlights the future of higher education and accreditation including AI, DEI, and facilitating open discussion and safe harbors.Join as we discuss: The importance of institutional autonomyEnsuring academic quality and student successThe significance of engagement and advocacyCreating dialogue to encourage innovationRead Dr. Jackson Hammond's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Dr. Cynthia Jackson Hammond became Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) President on August 1, 2020.Dr. Jackson Hammond, Ed.D. has been a member of the higher education community for more than 30 years. Her professional career has included tenured and administrative positions in universities throughout various regions of the United States: University of Louisiana Monroe, California State University Dominguez Hills; Delaware State University; University of North Carolina Charlotte, Winston-Salem State University; and Coppin State University. Most recently, Dr. Jackson Hammond completed her tenure as president of Central State University in Ohio.Dr. Jackson Hammond has spent the majority of her career in higher education administration, serving as a president, provost, and dean, as well as a director of TRIO programs. She has served on national boards of directors, including the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; NCAA Division II Presidents Council; the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; and she also served on the Council for Higher Education Accreditation Board of Directors. She has appeared multiple times on Capitol Hill, including providing testimony on the status of 1890 Land-Grant institutions.She earned her Bachelor's degree from Grambling State University, her Master's degree in Education and an Education Specialist degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and her Doctorate in Education in dual cognate areas, curriculum and instruction and student personnel services from Grambling State University.Dr. Jackson Hammond serves on the Fulbright Council for International Exchange Scholars (CIES) Advisory Board, the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) Council for Student Success, and as an AGB Commissioner for Higher Education Strategic Assets. Dr. Jackson Hammond also was appointed as a Commissioner for the Biden Administration's Presidential Scholars program.Dr. Jackson Hammond is a sought-after thought leader on accreditation, multicultural diversity, and inclusion. Her academic discipline is Education and Higher Education Administration. She is an ardent advocate for quality assurance and transparency in higher education and is committed to the advancement of higher education success, equity, and integrity in higher education.

We talk with Dr. David Eubanks, the assistant vice president at Furman University about the world of assessment, accreditation, and the pursuit of meaningful data in education. In his 20 year journey, David shares his realization that the standard accreditation formula for providing student learning assessment data was not working for him, leading to a realization it was not working for many others as well. He became a peer reviewer himself and embarked on a decade-long quest to find a solution that would bridge the gap between theory and practice. Get ready for a thought-provoking episode advocating for new approaches to traditional methods and paving the way for innovation in assessment and accreditation.Join us as we discuss the:Complexities of assessment in educationLimitations of data analysisImportance of engagement and holistic problem-solvingRead Dr. Eubank's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.

General education is a gateway to identity and becoming, a pathway to self-discovery and growth for students. However, gen ed courses have more frequently been viewed as checkboxes to quickly complete. But those who are passionate about and understand the long-term investment of gen ed, developing students into graduates who contribute back by going and making a difference in the world, are recommitting - working, partnering, and coming together.Reforming gen ed to ensure students can see themselves in the curriculum and incorporating it into minor studies provides meaningful, transformative, life changing experiences. Dr. Stephen Biscotte, president of AGLS and assistant provost for undergraduate education at Virginia Tech, speaks with us about the importance of gen ed, its reform, and the impact it has on the educated future of our nation.Join us as we discuss: Transforming understanding of gen ed and accreditationDelivering on what's important for studentsFinding passions and embracing transformation

Usually, when we think of education and accreditation, the stakes aren't life and death.But when it comes to paramedics, proper knowledge and training can mean the difference between a close call and a tragedy.In this episode, we speak with Dr. George Hatch, Executive Director of the Committee on Accreditation for the EMS professions (CoAEMSP), about the fascinating story behind — and what the future holds for — the accreditation that's helping save lives everyday. Join us as we discuss:A unique accreditor structureTransitioning from practitioner to accreditorImproving relationships as an accreditorThe ROI from involving stakeholdersSee Dr. Hatch's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Dr. Hatch, a 45 year EMS veteran provider and professional educator, is the Executive Director of the largest Committee on Accreditation in the Commission on the Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) system with nearly 800 Paramedic programs in the nation and internationally. Providing oversight to the largest Board of Directors that represent the EMS profession (12 Sponsors), he was called upon to help manage the crisis of keeping the “educational pipeline” open and functioning throughout the COVID-19 crisis while supporting the accredited EMS education programs in the United States.Serving in one of the largest community colleges in the country and responsible for educating the 3rd largest fire department in his role as Department Chairman and Program Director for over 2 decades, he's learned a few lessons about what works in education. He holds an Educational Doctorate with a concentration in Curriculum-Instruction and Teaching from the University of Houston and is the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Houston College Of Education.

Always called to a life of helping others, Dr. Vince Erario, Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning and Research at Life University, accidentally found himself in education. Kicking off his career with nearly three decades of service as a chiropractor, Vince dipped his toes in politics, quality assurance and clinical work.On this episode, Vince joins us to discuss his non-traditional path into accreditation and his lifelong journey of learning and helping others. Join us as we discuss how:Varying backgrounds of assessment and accreditation leaders contribute to the professionAssessment and accreditation leaders partner together to best tell the institution's storyExperiences from being a peer reviewer inform one's approach to this workKeep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.

There are approximately 300 higher education programs for students with intellectual disabilities across the United States. But currently, there is a lack of standardized accreditation systems in place for those programs. On this episode, Dr. Martha Mock, professor and director of the Center for Disability and Education at University of Rochester and chair of Think College National Coordinating Center Accreditation Workgroup, joins us to share what the workgroup has been doing to develop and launch accrediting processes for these students. Join us as we discuss:Development and launch of the Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation CouncilThe ins and outs of initiating an accreditation organizationImportance of accreditation, especially for students with intellectual disabilitiesSee Dr. Mock's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Martha E. Mock, Ph.D., is a Professor at the Warner School of Education and Human Development, at the University of Rochester. She is also the director of the Center on Disability and Education. Mock has worked alongside and on behalf of individuals with disabilities and their families as a teacher, professor and advocate for over three decades. Mock is widely known for her work in the area of college options for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). She is the chair of the Accreditation Workgroup for the National Coordinating Center at Think College and is the co-founder of the New York Inclusive Higher Education Coalition, a group of colleges, agencies, and families interested in promoting inclusive higher education throughout New York State. Mock is on the editorial board of the Journal for Inclusive Postsecondary Education. She received her doctorate in special education from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

From psychology professor to president of SACSCOC, join us for this episode with Dr. Belle Wheelan. In sharing her journey, you can hear her passion and commitment, her heart, for higher education and accreditation. Dr. Wheelan talks about topics from what makes a great peer reviewer to politics in higher education. She shares how the two work together to help institutions improve through innovation.Growing up in a racial and gender revolution, Dr. Wheelan provides guidance on how to support women in the profession, as well as how programmatic accreditation leaders can support their team, organization, and institutional members. From hearing about her favorite novels to The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) Top Strategic Issues for Boards, come to learn from a thought leader of accreditation.Join us as we discuss:The hardest parts of being involved in accreditationProviding impactful mentorship and guidancePeer evaluation as the hallmark of higher education accreditationThe power of continuous dialogue between accreditors and institutionsLeading programmatic accreditation organizationsSee Dr. Belle Wheelan's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.

In Dr. Heather Perfetti's own words, accreditation, first and foremost, is really about doing the good work at institutions and doing it well. And we should be celebrating that through accreditation!In this episode, Dr. Heather Perfetti, President at Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), joins the show to discuss her unique role. We dive deep into the value of the accreditation process and how impactful it can really be for the student experience, as well as touch on the taboo subject of myths that are perpetuated within the accreditation community and why we should be busting them!Join us as we discuss:Mythbusting around accreditationWhat the Middle States Commission on Higher Education doesRevising standards of accreditation to keep our process up to date See Dr. Heather Perfetti's full bio below!Dr. Heather F. Perfetti, PresidentMiddle States Commission on Higher EducationAn experienced, high-level executive with a demonstrated and diverse history of working in complex educational environments, Heather F. Perfetti, Ed.D., J.D., became President of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education on July 1, 2020. Over the course of her career, she has made an impact in numerous areas of higher education, including academic and student affairs, faculty affairs, legal and regulatory affairs, strategic planning, policy development, and innovative, organizational change management. She joined the Commission as a Vice President liaison to institutions in January 2015, served as Vice President for Legal Affairs and Chief of Staff in July 2017, and was then elevated to Senior Vice President in July 2018. On June 26, 2019, Dr. Perfetti was named President-Elect to begin her transition to President. Dr. Perfetti earned her Doctor of Education degree with specialization in Higher Education Leadership from Northcentral University (CA), the Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law, the Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Troy University (AL), and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Frostburg State University (MD). Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.

The equity gaps in higher education have never been more noticeable and prevalent than they are today.Ensuring we are serving students and championing for their best interest on campus has always been our most important job as accreditors and assessors. But there is more that can be done to take improvements a step further if we are willing to have those conversations.Assessment can impact equity on our campuses in a big way. Learning how to utilize our roles as assessment leaders to effect change on campus can make a world of difference, especially when thinking about what's next when it comes to the future of equitable assessment.Dr. Gianina Baker, Acting Director at National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), joins the show to discuss the importance of utilizing assessment to promote equity in higher education learning.Join us as we discuss:NILOA's newly released book “Reframing Assessment to Center Equity”How to center equity as a leader on campusThe growth and maturing of assessment practices post-pandemicSee Dr. Gianina Baker's full bio below! Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Dr. Gianina Baker is the acting director at the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) where she provides leadership and directs research specific to the assessment of student learning at colleges and universities. Additionally, Dr. Baker serves as the associate director of evaluation, learning, and equitable assessment at the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL). She supports and promotes OCCRL through her project management work of the REACH Collaborative. She also assists at OCCRL with assessment/evaluation consulting services, public engagement, and the organization's research agenda. Her main research interests include student learning outcomes assessment at Minority Serving Institutions, access and equity issues for underrepresented administrators and students, assessment in athletics, and higher education policy. Dr. Baker holds a Ph.D. in Educational Organization & Leadership with a Higher Education concentration from the University of Illinois, a M.A. in Human Development Counseling from Saint Louis University, and a B.A. in Psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University. Prior to this position, she was the Director of Institutional Effectiveness & Planning at Richland Community College.

When students go to obtain a degree in higher education, they expect that what they have studied and paid for is worth it all in the end. The goal is to have student success after graduation.No student would want to go through long hours of schooling and their degree not be accredited in the end.Herman Bounds, the Director of the Accreditation Group within the Office of Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education, is tasked with ensuring that the accreditation agencies are following the proper regulations so that higher education institutions are upholding the standards for the students.Join us as we discuss:Employer involvement with programmatic accreditorsHow accreditation agencies are conducting proper oversight of their institutionsThe steps to ensure a fair evaluation process for the institutions Check out the book Herman mentioned during the podcast:Winning in FastTime: Harness the Competitive Advantage of Prometheus in Business and Life See Herman's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Herman Bounds is the Director of the Accreditation Group within the Office of Postsecondary Education. He assumed that position in February 2014 after spending two years as an Education Program Specialist in the Accreditation Group. Herman was the Deputy Director at the Aviation Career Campus of Metro Technology Centers, a career and technical education school district in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. While serving as the deputy director Herman played a major role with developing a first of its kind workforce development project which provided Tinker Air Force Base with approximately 1,500 credentialed aviation maintenance technicians. During his tenure as deputy director the Aviation Career Campus maintained a 90 percent graduation and placement rate average for the aviation maintenance technology program. Herman was active in the accreditation process at the state level and served on site visit teams for the State Department of Career and Technical Education. Herman was also a subject matter expert for a human factors study (Psychological Study of Aircraft Accidents) conducted by Federal Aviation Administration. In addition, Herman is a U.S. Army veteran with 20 years of service.Herman has a MS degree in Aerospace Administration from Southeastern Oklahoma State University; and an Ed.S. in Education Administrator Leadership from Walden University.

Zoom lectures might be new to some students, but distance education is not, and neither is its accreditation.In this episode, Leah Matthews joins the podcast to speak about her role as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC). DEAC is in its 96th year of operating as a quality assurance body for distance education. But what exactly does that mean?To Leah, personally, it means quite a lot. Her life's work has been to develop accreditation procedures to serve and protect students and communities.Come along as we explore some timely topics in the accreditation world such as the accreditation of distance education, improvements to better protect students, and the future of accreditation.Join us as we discuss:The quality review process of distance education programsNC-SARA's importance to the success of distance education in AmericaHow the four regional compacts are champions for student protectionEvaluating student-readiness for distance learning through accreditation standardsThe process of developing assessment standards as an accreditation commission Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:NC-SARA WCET Quality Matters EDUCAUSE Regional Compacts:Western (WICHE) Southern (SREB) Midwestern (MHEC) New England (NEBHE) See Leah's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Leah Matthews currently serves as the Executive Director of the Distance Education Accrediting Commission located in Washington, DC. The DEAC is a private, non-profit accrediting organization founded in 1926. Ms. Matthews has over twenty years of experience in higher education accreditation. Her expertise in distance education policy led to her selection as a member of the U.S. Department of Education's 2019 Distance Education and Innovation Committee. Ms. Matthews has contributed her expertise in distance education that includes serving as Chair of the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) a board member of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) and as vice-president of the board of directors for the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE).

Dr. Josie Welsh, a leader in assessment and accreditation, joins the show today to share her perspective and insight on innovation in assessment, similarities and differences across accreditors, and helpful guidance for peer reviewers. Josie has a long list of impressive titles from President of Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education to a Team Chair for the Peer Corps of the Higher Learning Commission, and even a social psychologist.In these roles, her main goal is to share her wealth of knowledge to affect real change in the accreditation and assessment space, whether that's having an understanding of what is happening across different accreditors or thinking about what's practical and replicable on different campuses.Dr. Welsh's main suggestion on how to accomplish change is quite simple; we must all decide we want to work together through assessment and accreditation to accomplish the mission of each institution.Join us as we discuss:The future of assessment in accreditation and higher educationHow to really get the most out of assessment for your studentsBeing a peer evaluator and what the role really entailsNACIQI's role in accreditation and relationship with accreditorsThe upcoming AALHE conferenceSee Josie's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Josie Welsh is a social psychologist who has worked in faculty and administration teaching research methodology and design and overseeing areas of assessment, institutional effectiveness, faculty development, curriculum management, and data analytics at small private, large public, and specialized institutions. She is president of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education(AALHE) and serves as a team chair for the Peer Corps of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Josie also has served as a lead evaluator in the SACSCOC region and as an accreditation liaison officer within WSCUC. Josie frequently speaks and writes about trends in the field, the future of assessment, and the reaffirmation process. She advocates for mission-focused, broad approaches to assurance of learning and student success. Josie can be reached at jwelsh@aalhe.org.

Fun and accreditation don't usually appear in the same sentence together. But they should.When it's fun, you know it's working.In this episode, I speak with Mark LaCelle-Peterson, Founding Team Member and President at Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP), about how his programs bring fun back to accreditation — and shape the conversation about pedagogy.Join us as we discuss:Strategies that energize colleges about their successes4 performance standards for professional educatorsBuilding a community of cohorts around participationRevisioning accreditation as cyclical learning and improvementA philosophy of pedagogy focused on student paths to success Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:Marilyn Cochran-Smith and her book Reclaiming Accountability in Teacher EducationImprovement in Action: Advancing Quality in America's Schools (Continuous Improvement in Education Series) by Anthony S. BrykAAQEP Standards & GuideEp. 2 w/ Linda Suskie See Mark's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Mark LaCelle-Peterson is the founding President of the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP), an accreditation agency founded in 2017 to strengthen P-20 education through excellent, innovative preparation of educators.He has worked in accreditation and educator preparation for three decades, serving on the faculty and in leadership roles for several educator preparation programs in New York State. He served as President of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) and as Senior VP for Programs at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE).His has enjoyed teaching courses in assessment literacy, historical, social and cultural foundations of education, research methods, social and emotional learning, humanities, and Anglo Saxon and Old Norse literature (in translation). A native of Minnesota, he holds degrees from the University of Minnesota and Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. He lives in Rochester, New York, with his family and their canine companions.AAQEP promotes and recognizes quality educator preparation that strengthens the system's ability to serve all students, schools, and communities.

An accreditation visit can feel like an enemy encroaching on campus. Already suffering from accreditation fatigue, faculty and administrators just want to get that team off-campus as painlessly as possible.But program accreditors offer institutions a chance to grow through a quality improvement process.In this episode, I interview Anthony Stanowski, President and CEO of Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management, about how schools can benefit from accreditation processes.Join us as we discuss:Reasons accreditors aren't the enemyWhy premier programs should seek program accreditationHow to eliminate accreditation fatigueFollowing your sherpas See Anthony's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Dr. Anthony Stanowski is the President & CEO for the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education, known as CAHME. Anthony guides CAHME's strategic vision and operations to advance the quality of healthcare management education globally.CAHME is a programmatic accreditor. Since 1968, CAHME has accredited programs in healthcare management, and will begin to accredit programs in healthcare Quality and Safety. Under Anthony's tenure which began in 2016, CAHME-Accredited programs increased by 53% as students have found that quality healthcare management education is best delivered through CAHME accredited programs.Anthony's career includes executive and management positions with a large academic health system, a community health system, two global Fortune 200 companies, and a private healthcare technology firm. Anthony serves on several boards, and notably, for this podcast is on the Board of Methodist College in Peoria, IL.Anthony received his doctorate degree from the Medical University of South Carolina, graduate degrees from Drexel (Marketing) and Widener (Health Care Administration) Universities, and a bachelor's (magna cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Most institutions going through the accreditation process tend to panic if they get a ding. Inherently, however, assessment isn't about proving how good you are. It's about improving.To institutions of learning, the notion that we aren't perfect isn't exactly novel.In this episode, I interview Dr. Tisha Paredes, Accreditation Consultant and former Assistant Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness at Old Dominion University, about why the stress of accreditation can be good and steps for higher ed institutions to take to improve.Join us as we discuss:Why assessment should lead to improvementHow to handle an identified weak areaInvesting in people by demystifying accreditationBecoming a reviewerThe future of accreditation See Tisha's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.

Most accreditation standards do not focus enough on teaching and learning. Accreditation, after all, is not about research but education.In this episode, I interview Linda Suskie, a higher education assessment consultant, about two areas accreditation can help improve: faculty professional development and course design.Join us as we discuss:The need for institutions to provide adequate support to help faculty learn about teaching methodsA four-column course syllabi designed to motivate studentsHow higher ed should communicate about learningListening to why students are going to college and addressing learning outcomes that matter Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:Dee Fink course design resourcesReframing Assessment to Center Equity (forthcoming in 2022)How to Measure Anything by Douglas Hubbard See Linda's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.

Accreditation is a voluntary activity of institutions that want to demonstrate clearly to the public that they meet a high standard of accountability.Accreditors, too, may seek accreditation from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). CHEA's role is to set the standards of academic quality for institutions, students and families, and communities.In this first episode of Accreditation Conversations, Dr. Amy Dykens, CEO of Weave, interviews Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, President at CHEA, about accrediting accreditors, supporting a highly educated citizenry, and defining student learning outcomes.Join us as we discuss:The origin and values of CHEAPrioritizing student learning outcomes and continuous improvementTrends in data collection and assessmentEducating parents, students, and the public about the importance of accreditationCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:CHEACHEA/CIQG 2022 Annual ConferenceSee Cynthia's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond is President of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Dr. Jackson-Hammond's higher education experience spans more than 30 years and includes faculty status and tenured professorships, in addition to senior administrative leadership positions. She recently served on the boards of the Thurgood Marshall College Foundation, the 1890 Land-Grant Council of Presidents and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Executive Committee. She received her Bachelor's degree from Grambling State University, Master's degree in Education from the University of Louisiana in Monroe and her Doctorate in Education from Grambling State University.

Most of us probably didn't want to be accreditation experts when we grew up. Accreditation leaders tend to fall into the role because of their talents and their vision for how accreditation serves staff and faculty, students, and the institution as a whole.That's why we've created a space for accreditation leaders on campus to learn from institutional effectiveness experts through fulfilling and authentic conversations.In this trailer episode of Accreditation Conversations, producer Jordan Alford interviews host Amy Dykens, CEO at Weave Education, about what listeners should expect from the podcast.Join Amy and Jordan to learn about:Our guests: accreditation leaders of all programs or institutionsOur themes: funding, processes, engagement, student learning, and moreOur audience: anyone who wants to hear the inside scoop from both sides of the accreditation ecosystemOur vision: talk, listen, learn, share, and improveSee Amy's full bio below!Keep connected with us by subscribing to Accreditation Conversations on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Check out our website here.