GateWay Receives Strong Endorsement for Reaccreditation

After an exhaustive 3 day campus visit with students, faculty and staff, a 7 member team of community college administrators from across the country says it will recommend the maximum 10 year renewal of accreditation for GateWay Community College. The news was announced at an exit meeting with college personnel in late February. In the meeting, review team chair Dr. Rebecca Nickoli, Vice President of Workforce and Economic Development at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, talked of how the team saw firsthand the college's "engagement with the community and in the lives of students."

Dr. Nickoli read from the team report, summarizing their findings on each of five accreditation criteria set by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). GateWay met each of the five criteria with no need for additional follow-up or review by the HLC.

A few college areas singled out for special praise included:

• commitment to teaching and learning
• strong career and technical programs
• participatory advisory councils
• critical reading requirement for students
• Maricopa Skill Center, which "serves students who might otherwise go unserved"
• strong community input and partnerships
• Early College High School and Dual Enrollment program outreach to younger students
• extensive student support services

Dr. Nickoli observed that "GateWay students love their college" and faculty and staff demonstrate a "passion for their work." In announcing the team's recommendation that GateWay receive the maximum 10 year accreditation renewal with no HLC follow-up, she assured the assembly that "that doesn't happen very often!"

Next, the college will receive a 1st draft of the team's full report, at which time factual corrections can be made. Then, President Giovannini and Chancellor Glasper will receive the final report, at which time they can express any issues with the report's findings. The team will recommend that GateWay's next accreditation review take place during the 2019 - 2020 academic year.

To learn more about the accreditation process visit the Higher Learning Commission.