Good morning,

Since the last time Drake’s accreditation was renewed through the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) a good deal has changed—both at Drake and with accreditation standards. One of the more significant changes at Drake is the effort to start the process of accreditation much earlier. Nearly two years ago, members of the Drake community began addressing the new accreditation standards by analyzing the alignment of the University’s academic activities, operations, and priorities with these criteria.

Thanks to the hard work of many, led by Craig Owens and Kevin Saunders, several opportunities for improvement have been identified as we move toward reaccreditation by the HLC in 2017–2018. You can learn more about these priorities and the steps being taken to address them in the forthcoming BlueLine newsletter. Thanks to the proactive approach we have taken to accreditation, Drake is well positioned to meet, if not exceed, HLC criteria.

In conjunction with the reaccreditation effort, I, along with the President’s Council and the Dean’s Council, am striving to create a planning culture that supports continuous improvement at Drake. While this culture shift goes hand-in-hand with accreditation, it is not simply a project that is undertaken every 5 or 10 years—it is a constant, flexible improvement framework driven by our desire to provide the very best education to our students and fulfill our mission promise. This continuous improvement approach is a fusion of traditional strategic planning and accreditation efforts, and offers an innovative strategy to drive the University forward.

You’ll have the opportunity to learn more about accreditation and continuous improvement initiatives at Drake as we continue through the fall term. Every member of the campus community has a role to play in these efforts. By being more flexible and responsive, we will not just survive this time of tumult in higher education—we will thrive.

Best regards,

Marty