Jesse Gallegos
Public Relations Coordinator
Luna Community College
Sept. 3, 2020
Luna Community College
Luna Community College is preparing for a focused site visit with a team representing the Higher Learning Commission on Sept. 10-11.
A three member HLC team (two remotely, one on the Luna campus) are scheduled to meet with Luna officials during the two day visit. The visit, and ensuing recommendations from HLC reviewers, will have an impact as the college seeks to get off probationary status.
In advance of the visit, Luna submitted a written report electronically in mid-July that addressed each of the areas found to be out of compliance by the HLC, the Chicago-based organization under which Luna is accredited. To view the report, go to luna.edu and click on the accreditation link on the bottom right side of the main page. Then click on the HLC Institutional Focused Visit Report 2020 link.
Since June 2018, Luna has been on probation, an upgrade from the show-cause order the HLC had handed down the previous fall. Last year, the HLC Institutional Actions Council found that Luna had made progress in most areas, meeting requirements in 18 of 21 core component areas. However, the HLC Board of Trustees voted to keep Luna on probation, allowing the college more time and opportunity to improve its performance in some regards and to demonstrate continued improvement in others.
Areas of deficiency as determined by the HLC are specific components from Criterion Two, Integrity, Ethical & Responsible Conduct and Criterion Five, Resources, Planning & Institutional Effectiveness.
The HLC has previously determined that Luna meets or exceeds standards in the entirety of Criterion One, Mission; Criterion Three, Teaching & Learning, Quality, Resources & Support; and Criterion Four, Teaching & Learning, Evaluation & Improvement.
Luna’s HLC report-writing team compiled evidence to show the college is now fully compliant in components 2A, 5A and 5B and an assumed practice D3 related to participation in College Scorecard.
“Everyone should be congratulated,” Luna Interim President Dr. Kenneth Patterson told employees Wednesday during a remote campus-wide update and review on the upcoming HLC Focused Site Visit. “We have taken tremendous strides with it. We have addressed issues of the past and are moving forward.”
The focused visit report was originally due in May with a site visit scheduled for summer, but the deadlines were pushed back due to the nationwide impact of COVID-19. The HLC governing board is expected to make a determination on Luna’s accreditation status in November.
Luna has been accredited since 1982.
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