Index to the Location of Evidence Relating to the Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation Found in Missouri Western State University’s Systems Portfolio

Criterion Four – Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge. The organization promotes a life of learning for its faculty, administration, staff, and students by fostering and supporting inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility in ways consistent with its mission.

Core Component 4a. The organization demonstrates, through the actions of its board, administrators, students, faculty, and staff that it values a life of learning.

• Western expects employees and students to be leaders in their work and communities. The Strategic Plan identifies service, quality, enthusiasm, freedom, respect, and courage as the institutional values of Western. These core values shape day-to-day operations and contribute to a distinctive Western culture (Figure O.1, 5C3).
• Western’s Policy Guide states that “academic freedom is the right of members of the academic community freely to study, discuss, investigate, teach, conduct research, publish, or administer as appropriate to their respective duties. It is the responsibility of the administrators to protect and assure these rights within the governing framework of the institution.” Western maintains a climate of academic freedom, inquiry, and respect for diverse opinions for both students and faculty through the individual courses and degree programs offered by both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Professional Studies, as well as through specific activities, events, and services(1C5).
• Western offers life-long learning opportunities, pre-professional transfer programs, continuing professional education opportunities, and self-
  enrichment courses. (O1)
• Western uses a consensus decision process with representation from a cross section of campus constituents involved in committees and projects. Western’s three governance groups of faculty, staff, and students provide input into institutional decision making. Western engages in a continuous 5-4-1 improvement cycle in which a five-year strategic plan is shaped in the fourth year, and progress reports occur annually (O5, 8C1-8C2, 8P1-8P7, 5P3).
• The university publicly recognizes the research achievement of faculty, staff, and students and honors these through its recognition, reward, and compensation systems. Western recognizes outstanding faculty, staff, and employees at an annual ceremony held at the end of each academic year. The achievement of students is also recognized annually (4P7).

Core Component 4b. The organization demonstrates that acquisition of a breadth of knowledge and skills and the exercise of intellectual inquiry are integral to its educational programs.

• Western has an established set of nine common learning objectives for general education aligned with Missouri’s statewide general education policy for signatories, including all public universities. The philosophy of general education in Missouri includes enabling students to acquire the academic skills and knowledge necessary for understanding, communicating, and performing in a diverse and complex world. The objectives include understanding and appreciating moral values and ethical choices as well as understanding other cultures and times. Additionally, courses throughout the curriculum address gender and ethnicity issues (1C1).
• The General Studies Committee reviews the general studies curriculum and the philosophy/common learning objectives every three years. The Policy Guide describes procedures for curriculum and revision. Organizational restructuring combined Academic Affairs and Student Affairs with the goal of removing any boundaries between students’ academic lives and their personal and social lives. An AQIP Action Project in Applied Learning focused on increasing the number of students involved in credit and non-credit curricular and co-curricular applied learning experiences. Seventy-nine percent of 2006 graduates participated in co-curricular and extracurricular activities through their involvement on campus and in volunteer service to the larger community, Another AQIP Action Project, Engaging Students, is associated with Western’s mission to be a learning community focused on students as individuals and as members of society and to offer students the opportunity to achieve excellence in the classroom and beyond (1C1, 1P10, 2C2, 2P1).
• Western has a statewide mission in applied learning, and all students are encouraged to complete at least one applied learning experience by graduation (O1, Figure 1.1)
• Service, quality, freedom, enthusiasm, respect, and courage are values that create the environment in which faculty, staff, and administrators at Western organize their work to strengthen the institution’s focus on student learning (4C1).
• The Western Institute provides educational and research outreach, including continuing and distance education, workforce development, extended campus programs, conferences, applied research centers, and special programs (5P1).

Core Component 4c. The organization assesses the usefulness of its curricula to students who will live and work in a global, diverse, and technological society.

• Faculty develops and articulates course learning goals and program objectives, establishing and evaluating the effectiveness and currency of the curriculum at the course and program level. Academic programs are reviewed at least every five years. All new programs must be approved through the Department of Higher Education and the Coordinating Board for Higher Education. Western uses external reviewers who participate in the curricular review process and provide evaluations of the curriculum that include comments related to comparisons with national trends and the currency of the course offering (1P1-1P2, 1C2, 1P8).
• Western helps prepare students to live in a diverse world through the Liberal Arts and Sciences focus areas in computer literacy, international/intercultural programs, and ethics. Students gain global exposure through travel/study programs. Western’s Center for Multicultural Education challenges students to explore cultural differences. Students gain experience through their participation in applied learning activities that prepare them to live and work in a global, diverse, and technological society (1C4-1C5).
• General education prepares students for successful and fulfilling lives as educated and active citizens (2C3).
• Students are encouraged to complete an applied learning experience such as an internship, practicum, or faculty/student research. The university expects and actively encourages scholarship by students (1C1).

Core Component 4d. The organization provides support to ensure that faculty, students, and staff acquire, discover, and apply knowledge responsibly.

• Student Services and Student Development provide services and programs that systematically impact most students and help them become active and engaged citizens both on campus and in the greater community. Western intentionally aligns curricular and co-curricular learning objectives. Learning communities emphasize leadership and citizenship (1C1, 1P10, Figures 5.3, 6.2).
• Western’s Policy Guide sets out explicit policies and procedures to ensure ethical conduct in its research and instructional activities. The Student Handbook describes expected student behavior (1C5, 5C3).
• Western’s mission focuses on students as individuals and as members of society, offering students at all stages of life the opportunity to excel in the classroom and beyond, as they prepare to be leaders in their work and in their communities. A leader itself, Western is committed to the educational, economic, cultural, and social development of the people and the region it serves (O1).
• Western’s Policy Guide includes explicit policy on copyright and approval of research on human subjects (5C3).
• Western is committed to providing opportunities for professional development, including sabbaticals, attendance at workshops, and at conferences (5P7).