Dear Faculty and Staff,

Illinois Tech is currently preparing to participate in a significant accreditation event—our 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation—which will take place early next fall. The accreditation process will entail creating and submitting a self-study report that demonstrates how the university is meeting the standards for accreditation as set by our accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission. This process also includes an in-person site visit and review by a team of HLC reviewers on October 19–20, 2026.

The self-study report, which the Office of the Provost is leading and involves the contributions of faculty and staff representing a diverse range of departments at the university, describes Illinois Tech’s operation in a very wide set of activities. These include our mission and strategic planning; our teaching and student services; our research and scholarship; and our budgeting, planning and financial management. Faculty and staff are central to all of these activities, and we need your active participation to have a successful visit.

To prepare for the HLC site visit, we are having a mock review visit. The university has engaged a team of HLC peer reviewers to review our initial report draft and conduct this preparatory review on March 24–25, 2026. As part of this mock review, we will be hosting two meetings for faculty and staff:

For Staff: Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at 3–4 p.m. in the Hermann Hall Ballroom
For Faculty: Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at 12:45–1:50 p.m. in the Kaplan Institute (Tellabs west, located in the southwest corner of the building) and also on Zoom

The meeting will be led by one or more of the HLC reviewers, and it will allow them to discuss this report and its contents with staff. Prior to this meeting we will be releasing the draft self-study report argument shared with the HLC review team to all faculty and staff for review. We will also include a structured feedback mechanism for faculty and staff feedback.

We are hoping to engage broad faculty and staff participation so that we can have a successful accreditation process, and we encourage you to attend. A separate meeting will be held for students.

Thank you for being an important part of this process and for contributing your expertise to the university.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Hudson
Provost, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Chief Academic Officer

Nick Menhart
Vice Provost for Accreditation and Assessment