Apply Now

Quick Links

Contact us

Mustang Express / Login

Frequently Asked Questions

Not your typical FAQ's!

Review Questions

These are the types of questions the HLC Peer Review Team members may ask at sessions or in conversation with stakeholders during the campus visit. No one person would be expected to know the answer to all of these questions. However, hopefully you will feel comfortable addressing those that relate to your area or to the institution as a whole.

The questions are broken up into three sections:

  1. Specific to Students, Faculty, Staff, the Board of Regents, and Community
  2. Specific questions about topics that impact WNMU
  3. Criteria questions

Questions regarding Students, Faculty, Staff, the Board of Regents, and Community

  • Why did you choose to enroll at WNMU? Have your expectations been met? 
  • What do you think is special about WNMU education? 
  • Would you recommend WNMU to other students? 
  • What do you like best about WNMU? What would you change if you could? 
  • Describe your experiences with academic advising. 
  • Have you experienced any problems getting the courses you need in a timely manner? 
  • Do you know where to go for help with the following? 1) academic support; 2) career planning; 3) personal counseling; 4) making a complaint; 5) technology support. 
  • Do you use any of the following: library, tutoring services, counseling services, or accessibility services? If yes, what has been your experience? 
  • What services are available to assist academically underprepared students by your program/department? 
  • Are you able to estimate your bill each semester, or are you surprised when you receive it? 
  • Do you know if you are enrolled in an accredited program? 
  • How is the relationship between students and faculty? 
  • What opportunities do you have to participate in community or service learning experiences? 
  • What opportunities do you have to interact with people and cultures different from your own? 
  • What opportunities do you have to gain real-world experience related to your educational and career goals? 
  • Tell us about programming that happens outside of academic departments where you have learned something. 
  • If you have transferred in credits, what was the experience like for you? 
  • Do you think the University communicates clearly with students about topics such as financial aid, student conduct, costs, and graduation requirements? What improvements would you recommend? 
  • Do students have an opportunity to provide the administration with input? 

  • What are the characteristics of a WNMU education? 
  • How do you contribute to the University’s mission? 
  • What is your department’s vision for the future? How does this relate to the University’s vision? 
  • Can you describe the tenure and promotion process? What is your impression of the process? 
  • Are instructors evaluated regularly in accordance with established institutional policies and procedures? 
  • Talk about shared governance and how faculty participate in decision-making at different levels of the university (department, college, institution) (Governance structure). Can you share any examples? 
  • How would you describe the relationship between faculty and administration? What works and what needs improvement? 
  • Describe the relationship between WNMU department. What collaborations currently exist? 
  • What resources are available to support faculty (e.g., library, internal grants, external grant support, faculty development, travel, etc,)? Are these sufficient to meet faculty needs? 
  • What is the role of faculty in ensuring academic quality? 
  • Is your department actively involved in assessing student learning? 
  • Tell me about the Student Learning Outcomes process. How does it work? How are you assessing learning outcomes? 
  • How has your department used its assessment findings? 
  • What evidence do you have that students achieve your program’s intended learning outcomes? 
  • How do you ensure that all classes – face4-to-face, online, blended, off-campus, dual credit – have the same student learning outcomes and equivalent assessments?  
  • Do you have Associate and Certificate students in the same classroom? 
  • How do you differentiate between Associate level and Certificate level learning outcomes? 
  • Does your department offer courses or programs via distance education? If so, how does the department ensure the quality of the curriculum regardless of how or where it is delivered? 
  • What is the purpose of general education? 
  • In what ways does the program achieve its goals for student? How could it be improved? 
  • How does the University ensure its General Education program (aka ILO assessment process) is high quality? 
  • How do co-curricular activities/programs contribute to the educational experience of student? 
  • How do students receive academic advising? 
  • What opportunities do student in your program have to gain real-world experience? Community or civic engagement? Leadership? Diversity or multiculturalism? 
  • How does WNMU provide support for student learning and effective teaching? 
  • How are your student doing once they graduate? 
  • For some common faculty issues (workload, salary, evaluation process, communication, etc.), what works well and what needs to be improved? 
  • How is academic freedom supported by the University? 
  • Is WNMU or your division/unit/department more effective than it was 4 years ago? Explain. 
  • What are the biggest resource challenges at WNMU? 
  • What are you most proud of at the University?  
  •  

  • How does your department support the mission of the University? 
  • What is it like to be a staff member at WNMU? 
  • How is morale on campus? 
  • What opportunities do you have for professional development? 
  • Are staff members treated equitably in their access to these opportunities? 
  • How are staff evaluated? 
  • What is your impression of the evaluation process? 
  • How are staff involved in campus decision-making processes? 
  • Do you think the staff has sufficient input into decisions that affect them? 
  • How would you describe the relationship between staff and administration? What works, and what could be improved? 
  • What do you like best about your job? What would you change if you could? 
  • How do units across campus work collaboratively? What works well, and what could be improved? 
  • Do you feel that the work you do is valued by the administration? Faculty? Other staff members? Students? 
  • How does your department contribute to student learning and development? 
  • How does your department assess or evaluate effectiveness? 
  • How is data used to inform improvements in the delivery of student services? Any examples? 
  • What are the challenges at WNMU or in Student Affairs? 
  • What are you most proud of in Student Affairs? 
  •  

  • What type of training is required to serve as a member of WNMU’s Board of Regents? Initial and annual? 
  • What is the agenda and the materials used in the orientation of new board members? 
  • What type of annual training do all board members receive? 
  • How are Board members selected? 
  • How long is a term of service? 
  • What is the purpose of the Board? 
  • How does the Board help WNMU support its mission? 
  • What role does the Board play in the development of the University’s mission, vision, and values? 
  • What role does the Board play in developing the strategic plan and priorities? 
  • How are records of resource allocation decisions made by the board shared with the University community? 
  • Does the board periodically and objectively assess its effectiveness and the effectiveness of WNMU’s governance structure? 
  • How does the Board prevent conflicts of interest from occurring? 
  • What is the Board’s role vs. the President’s role in the functioning of the University? 
  • What is the Board’s relationship with the President? 
  • How is the President evaluated? How often? 
  • How is a disagreement handled if the President and the Board disagree on an action? 
  • Are there clearly defined expectations and protocols for Board member obligations and communications with each other, the President, employees, and community members? 

  • What do you know about accreditation? 
  • Have you seen or read Western New Mexico University’s Assurance Argument? 
  • Did you play a role in preparing for the site visit? 
  • How would you describe WNMU’s mission? 
  • Do you know where you would find the official mission statement? 
  • What are the University’s current strategic planning priorities? 
  • What are WNMU’s greatest strengths? 
  • What are the biggest challenges facing WNMU? 
  • What makes WNMU unique in your state and among higher education institutions in general? 
  • Provide an example of how WNMU is committed to freedom of expression 
  • Describe your codes of conduct and how they are used. 
  • Do you know where to find information about academic integrity and policies regarding academic misconduct? 
  • How would you describe the campus climate for diversity? 
  • Describe any campus processes that could be improved or made more efficient. 
  • What kinds of changes are taking place at WNMU? Do you see these as positive or not? 
  • What is WNMU doing to ensure a campus environment that is welcoming, inclusive, and increasingly diverse? 
  • How are planning and budgeting tied together? 
  • When a policy, process, or program is being examined or proposed, is it publicized and/or communicated to the appropriate constituencies? 

Questions regarding specific topics to WNMU.

  • As you understand it, what is WNMU’s mission?  
  • How is the spirit of the mission reflected in what you do?  
  • How do faculty, staff, and administration work toward accomplishing WNMU’s mission and goals?  
  • In what ways does WNMU demonstrate commitment to the public good?  
  • In what ways is WNMU accomplishing its mission? In what ways is not accomplishing its mission?  
  • Does your University have a mission statement?  
  • Are your department and divisional policies and procedures consistent with WNMU’s mission? 
  • In what ways does your department or division support mission fulfillment?  
  • What are WNMU’s problem areas?  
  • What concerns do you have about the future of WNMU? 

  • Do students actually receive what WNMU promises in the catalog, recruitment materials, and website?  
  • Are WNMU’s stated goals the ones that are funded and supported? How is this apparent?  
  • Can students get the courses they need to complete a degree in a timely fashion?  
  • Does the website and do recruitment materials describe or depict an accurate portrayal of WNMU? (is the information accurate, timely, representative?)  
  • When a policy, process or program is being examined or proposed, is it publicized to the appropriate constituencies?  
  • Does WNMU have appropriate policies and procedures in place?  
  • Do you know where to get a class schedule or a financial report? Is this common knowledge?  
  • Do people know where to voice a concern or lodge a complaint? 

  • Tell us about your department, school, or college’s assessment program? How was it developed? Is it well known throughout the institution?  
  • How are faculty/staff involved in course or program assessment?  
  • How has course/program assessment within your unit changed over recent years?  
  • Is your unit or is WNMU more effective now than it was 5-10 years ago?  
  • What improvements have resulted from assessment?  
  • How do program assessment results impact your budget and planning processes? 

  • Describe WNMU’s diversity efforts regarding student recruitment and retention, faculty recruitment and retention?  
  • Does WNMU offer programming in support of diverse populations?  
  • Describe your department/units’ diversity efforts related to student recruitment, faculty recruitment and support.  
  • What opportunities have you had working and collaborating in a diverse, multicultural and inclusive settings?  
  • What is WNMU doing to assure a campus environment that is welcoming, inclusive, and increasingly diverse? 

  • In what ways do faculty and students contribute to scholarship, creative work, and the discovery of knowledge at WNMU?  
  • How does WNMU encourage or support student or faculty research, creative activity, discovery? 
  • How does WNMU ensure that faculty, students, and staff acquire, discover, and apply knowledge responsibly? 

  • Tell us about significant changes in your department or unit over the past 5-10 years. How have your students been impacted by these changes?  
  • Tell us about the trends in enrollment over the past 10 years. Is enrollment rising/falling/stabilized? What are the reasons for this?  
  • What programs are growing? What programs are not growing?  
  • What enrollment projections are you making for the future?  
  • Describe WNMU’s retention efforts.  
  • How do you recruit students (undergrad or grad)?  
  • How do you describe the institution to prospective students?  
  • Describe your student demographics 

  • How do you use data to inform improvements in the delivery of student services?  
  • What do you know about the most common complaints students have about your college or university?  
  • What areas need improvements?  
  • Describe your financial aid process.  
  • How are students treated in the Financial Aid Office?  
  • What are Student Affairs’ most serious challenges?  
  • What are you most proud of in Student Affairs?  
  • What are you most concerned about in Student Affairs? 

  • Is there equity among departments relative to funding, staffing, space, support service?  
  • How are planning and budgeting tied together?  
  • In what ways can WNMU be expected to continue to accomplish its mission?  
  • Do you have any concerns for the future of WNMU?  
  • How is quality documented and maintained for various constituencies or delivery mechanisms? 
  • Is enrollment rising/falling/stabilized? What are the reasons for this?  
  • What kinds of changes are taking place within the university? Do you see these changes as positive or negative? How will these changes impact WNMU?  
  • What is the most significant change since you have been here? 

  • What are the best attributes of the university?  
  • How are resources distributed within your department and within your college/school?  
  • What are WNMU’s (department’s/units) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats? 
  • What is your impression of the campus climate?  
  • Is the morale of the faculty and staff positive?  
  • What kinds of changes are taking place within the university? Do you see these changes as positive or negative? How will these changes impact WNMU?  
  • What is the most significant change since you have been here?  
  • Do you have any concerns for the future of WNMU? 

General Education: 

  • What do you hope the general education program will achieve?  
  • How does WNMU assure its General Education program is high quality? 

Involvement: 

  • Are the faculty and staff participating in the life of the university and in the planning for the future?  
  • Do students have an opportunity to provide the administration with input?  
  • Does staff have an opportunity to provide the administration with input?  
  • What is the mechanism for communication with the President?  
  • How does the Board of Regents help or hinder WNMU’s accomplishment of its mission? 

The HLC Process: 

  • Did you know an HLC Accreditation Team was coming?  
  • Are you aware of how the accreditation process works?  
  • Have you read any of WNMU’s accreditation materials?  
  • Do you believe that the narrative accurately represents WNMU? What, if anything, would you add? What, if anything, would you change?  
  • How were you involved in the accreditation process? 

Questions specific to the criteria related to the requirements for HLC.

Criterion One: 

  • Tell me about the university’s mission and how you understand it.  
  • Can you give me a specific example of how the university’s mission guides institutional operations?  
  • Can you tell me about a partnership that the university has? How does it work?  
  • The assurance argument indicates that progress has been made on diversity goals – tell me about some progress. What continues to challenge the campus?  
  • There are documents and a significant amount of data available on the university website – most without a password. What do you use regularly? What data is reviewed by the institutional as a whole and how is this done? What is not there?  
  • How are the academic programs that you offer consistent with the mission?  
  • How does WNMU serve the public good? 

Criterion Two: 

  • Tell me about your policy library and how you use it.  
  • Describe your codes of conduct and how they are used.  
  • Using technology has many advantages – quicker communication, allowing students to do just in time learning, etc. It also has many disadvantages. What have you experienced?  
  • Tell us about research and the value placed at WNMU on responsible conduct in research. What training have you done?  
  • Tell me an example of how WNMU is committed to freedom of expression and the pursuit of truth in teaching and learning.  
  • How do students learn about library resources? How does everyone on campus understand the resources that are available to them?  
  • Students – Are you able to estimate your bill each semester or are you surprised when you receive it? Do you know if you are enrolled in an accredited program? 

Criterion Three: 

  • Do you have undergraduate students and graduate students in the same classroom? How do you differentiate between undergraduate and graduate learning outcomes?  
  • Describe the shared governance as it exists on this campus.  
  • How do you ensure that all classes – face-to-face, online, blended, off-campus, dual credit – have the same student learning outcomes and equivalent assessments? Tell me about how dual credit instructors are approved for teaching at WNMU.  
  • If you could change one thing about the current classroom that you are teaching in – what would it be?  
  • Students – Tell us about programming that happens outside of academic departments where you have learned something. (They might ask a similar question to student affairs staff to see if they got similar answers.) 

Criterion Four: 

  • Every unit on campus has student learning outcomes for every program. How were these determined? How are they assessed? Where do your reports go? What kind of feedback do you get?  
  • Faculty/Department Heads – You have a comprehensive program review process. What have you learned from the process of writing the self-study and from feedback from reviewers 
  • Describe the process of assessment of student learning on the WNMU campus from your perspective.  
  • How does the university focus on retention rates, graduation rates and other performance measures?  
  • Describe high impact practices in your department. How do they improve retention and/or graduation rates? Where do you find that data? Explain how transfer course equivalencies are determined on the WNMU campus.  
  • How is program accreditation supported at WNMU?  
  • How do departments/faculty access data specific to their programs? 

Criterion Five: 

  • If you have a question about a specific budget – who do you go to?  
  • What do you think is WNMU’s most important accomplishment over the past 10 years?  
  • How did WNMU prepare to write the strategic plan? Who was involved?  
  • It is tough to balance revenue sources with spending. What are the revenue sources? Who determines them? Who has input into determining revenue sources?  
  • What are the biggest resource challenges at WNMU?