2022 Reaffirmation

APU is scheduled for reaffirmation of its accreditation in April 2022. The university has chosen to use a comprehensive review approach that relies on the 2013 Handbook of Accreditation and follows a very structured approach toward reaccreditation. The following information provides an overview of this process, as well as resources that demonstrate APU’s commitment to meeting accreditation goals and to providing Christ-centered academic excellence across all programs.

The Reaccreditation Process

APU is assigned a WSCUC liaison to offer support and to establish a team of peer reviewers who will read our materials, visit our campuses, and ultimately recommend a reaccreditation length (6, 8, or 10 years) to the Commission. APU’s liaison is Dr. Susan Opp, and we will have the right to review and comment on the members of the review team that Dr. Opp proposes.

Once a review team is selected, the self-study report is written and submitted to WSCUC six weeks before the peer review team meets at an offsite location to review the report. At that “offsite review,” the team will develop lines of inquiry to follow up on at the time of the visit. The lines of inquiry are shared with APU in a conference call at 3 p.m. on the day of the offsite review and submitted officially in writing. The review team may require that APU produce additional documents for their review prior to the visit; those documents are due eight weeks after the offsite review.

The team will come to the campus (as well as some regional campuses) and meet with individuals and groups of their choosing across a two-day period. On the third day, the team’s chair will publicly share its commendations and recommendations with the University community but will not indicate what length of reaccreditation it is suggesting. After the visit, the team submits a comprehensive report about its findings to the WSCUC liaison, who forwards it to APU for corrections of fact. Following APU’s review of the team’s report, the liaison sends the final document and the team’s confidential recommendation about reaccreditation length to the Commission. The Commission will review the team’s recommendations and report its decision to President Ferguson during its June meetings.

The Report

The report APU wrote (PDF) has eight standard components that focus on compliance, academic quality, student learning and success, infrastructure to support decision-making, and finances. Specifically, the report contains the following components:

  • Component 1: Introduction to the Institutional Report: Institutional Context, Response to Previous Commission Actions
  • Component 2: Compliance with the Standards: Review under the WSCUC Standards and Compliance with Federal Requirements
  • Component 3: Degree Programs: Meaning, Quality, and Integrity of the Degree
  • Component 4: Educational Quality: Student Learning, Core Competencies, Standards of Performance at Graduation
  • Component 5: Student Success: Student Learning, Retention, and Graduation
  • Component 6: Quality Assurance and Improvement: Program Review, Assessment, Use of Data and Evidence
  • Component 7: Sustainability: Financial Viability, Preparing for the Changing Higher Education Environment
  • Component 8: Conclusion: Reflection and Plans for Improvement

WSCUC Steering Committee

A steering committee, under the leadership of the accreditation liaison officer (ALO), will be convened to ensure that feedback is solicited from faculty, staff, and students; that the report is effectively written and all of its supporting documents are collected; and that the site visit is well-organized. Lead writers for each component will serve on the steering committee, as well as others who can contribute to the content of the report or the processes associated with the visit. The members of the steering committee are:

  • Stephanie Juillerat, Accreditation Liaison Officer/Chair
  • Andrew Barton, Vice President for Strategic Planning/Mission Integration and Chief of Staff
  • Joshua Canada, Director of Strategic Partnerships, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Robert Duke, Interim Associate Provost, Faculty Affairs
  • Bill Fiala, Dean of Student Wellness
  • Stephanie Gala, Director of Academic Advising, Academic Success Center
  • Tony Gjessing, Executive Director, Enrollment Technology Services
  • Keith Hall, Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer
  • Joy Karavedas, Staff Council Chairperson
  • Drake Levasheff, Senior Director, Orange County and Murrieta Regional Campuses
  • Loren Martin, Acting Executive Director of Institutional Research
  • Joshua Morris, Faculty Moderator
  • Megan Prosser, Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Maureen Taylor, Vice President for Strategic Communication and Engagement
  • Jeff Tirrell, Director of Curricular Effectiveness

Resources for the Reaffirmation Visit

Updates

For More Information

Questions may be directed to Stephanie Juillerat at sjuillerat@apu.edu.

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