HLC Quality Initiative
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC), SIUE’s institutional accreditor, approved the University’s Quality Initiative (QI) Proposal in summer 2021.
The University’s QI will be an institutional change effort focused upon improving retention and graduation rates of Black students. It will invite all members of the campus community to participate in transforming SIUE’s culture into one where Black students can thrive.
A summary of the purpose and goals of the QI follow:
Purpose
To acknowledge structural racism as a predictor of educational and career outcomes among Black students and to build a multi-level program designed to enhance their daily experiences by reducing incidence, prevalence and impact of minority stress and cultural trauma in students’ lives both within and outside SIUE. The interventions designed for this QI will directly address students, and indirectly address faculty and staff concerns as they try to eliminate obstacles currently impeding the academic progress of Black students.
Goals
- Support Black students along the educational pipeline by developing a pathway for their enrollment at SIUE
- Improve retention and graduation rates of Black students at SIUE by achieving year-to-year increases in retention and increasing the six-year graduation rate
- Develop and nurture pathways to graduate and professional school and/or employment for Black students graduating from SIUE
- Provide ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion education, training and resources, through various modalities, to support self-awareness and professional development
- Enhance efforts to recruit and retain Black faculty and staff
