This site is designed for both SVSU’s 2004 Self-Study for the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association and our own on-going institutional improvement processes. The site applies lessons learned from pioneering projects like the Urban Universities Portfolio Project and the AAHE’s collection Electronic Portfolios: Emerging Practices in Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning and adapts them to our regional comprehensive University.

This self-study is aligned with the General Institutional Requirements and the Criteria for Accreditation of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, available online at <http://www.higherlearningcommission.org/overview/>.

As such, the site supports a range of users and use patterns. For example,

• Users interested in the University’s Mission, Vision, Goals, and planning might examine the “Mission” section of the site, which presents key planning documents (including both .html and .pdf versions of the University’s current five-year plan, Next Steps 2000-2005).
• Users unfamiliar with SVSU might focus on the Institutional Profile section, which contains basic information on the University. Such users might also want to consult the .html or .pdf versions of the full 1994 University Self-Study, the 1994 NCA Evaluation Team’s Report, and the documents SVSU prepared in response to the Team’s report.
• Users interested in the 2004 Self-Study Report would go immediately to the Self-Study section, but would also want to familiarize themselves with the information in the Introductory and Mission sections and refer back to information in the Institutional Profile sections as needed.
• Users interested in the development processes of the Self-Study could examine the subsection for preparatory documents in this Introduction.

This site demonstrates SVSU's committment to ongoing improvement.

The site includes a number of features designed to aid navigation:

• Each of the site’s main sections has a companion photograph displayed in the upper left corner; all pages within a given section share the photograph.
• The top of each page contains a navigation bar with links to each of the main section pages (as well as to the site’s main page).
• Links to .pdfs automatically open in a new window, which can be closed after reading a given document—thus allowing users to keep their place in the site even as they access long, complex documents.
• Back button and history features are fully usable in various browsers.
• Graphic items in the Self-Study report can be enlarged by clicking on the graphic.
  
  

SVSU invites feedback through the links in the “Contact” section.