Accreditation
Saint Martin’s University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on
Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). NWCCU is an independent, non-profit
membership organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as
the regional authority on educational quality and institutional
effectiveness of higher education institutions in the seven-state Northwest
region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. It
fulfills its mission by establishing accreditation criteria and evaluation
procedures by which institutions are reviewed. NWCCU oversees regional
accreditation for 162 institutions, and its decision-making body consists of
up to 26 commissioners who represent the public and the diversity of higher
education institutions within the Northwest region.
Saint Martin's University Accreditation Press Release
Accreditation Evaluation Visit
On Oct. 15-17, 2012, an evaluation team from the NWCCU will visit Saint
Martin’s University to conduct a comprehensive evaluation. The purpose of
the evaluation visit is to determine the University’s qualification for
reaccreditation by the commission.
Accreditation Self-Study Team
The following members of Saint Martin's University faculty, staff and
administration provided leadership to our accreditation self-study process.
- Roy F. Heynderickx, Ph.D., President
- Joseph Bessie, Provost/Vice
President of Academic Affairs
- Joyce Westgard, Dean of the College
of Education and Professional Psychology
- Radana Dvorak, Associate Dean of
Extended Learning
- Scot Harrison, Library Director
- Mary Jo Hartman, Associate Professor
of Biology / Faculty President
- Stephen X. Mead, Professor of
English
- Steve Siera, Associate Dean of
Graduate Studies / Associate Dean of
Education
- Sheila Steiner, Professor of
Psychology / Director of General
Education
- Kim Van Vleet, Director of
Institutional Research
- Caley Wiseman, Student
Accreditation Core Themes
The four core themes of Saint Martin’s University are faith,
reason, service and community.
Individually and in tandem with one another, these four themes manifest
essential elements of our
mission and collectively encompass our
mission.
Faith
At root the foundation of our beliefs is nothing more, ultimately, than
the commitment we have to them. Saint Martin's University is a community
committed to the Benedictine dispositions that inspired, founded, and
continue to inform our mission: we acknowledge the fundamental necessity of
the human confrontation with faith in all its aspects—religious,
interpersonal, political, social, in all the commitments required in a
life—as a critical element in the pursuit of truth.
Reason
Reason is a fundamental tool in service to the pursuit of truth. Fully
appreciating and employing the power of reason at Saint Martin’s University
means going beyond the mere production of usefully-skilled and employable
graduates, and aims at producing thoughtful, educated, independent thinkers
capable of, and interested in, making a positive difference in the world
they inhabit.
Service
Teaching and learning should provide opportunities for service to the
community. Service, and its partner, hospitality, express essential elements
of the Benedictine philosophy. Saint Martin’s University is an entity that
serves, and this is thematic of how the community engages in its
daily work. Saint Martin's University nurtures the impulse to serve and aims
to graduate men and women distinguished by their thoughtful commitment to
helping meet societal needs.
Community
The spirit of Benedictine philosophy is nothing without community.
Community is a pre-eminently defining characteristic of who we are and what
we do at Saint Martin's University. Certainly every campus community may be
referred to as a community. However, a distinctive mark of the
Benedictine philosophy—of the Saint Martin’s experience as expressed in its
mission and embodied in its practices and plans—is self-consciousness
regard for people’s mutual inter-dependence and the way we embrace
respect for all the necessary work and roles that make the human
community.
Comprehensive Self-Evaluation Report
The Comprehensive
Self-Evaluation Report
is available for review by current Saint Martin's community members.
About Accreditation
Regional accreditation of postsecondary institutions is a voluntary,
non-governmental, self-regulatory process of quality assurance and
institutional improvement. It recognizes higher education institutions for
performance, integrity, and quality to merit the confidence of the
educational community and the public. Accreditation by a postsecondary
regional accrediting agency qualifies institutions and enrolled students for
access to federal funds to support teaching, research, and student financial
aid.