Appointments To National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity Now Complete

All appointments have now been announced for the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), the federal advisory body to the Secretary of Education that provides recommendations on the recognition of accrediting organizations. The committee is made up of 18 members who are appointed by the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). On May 25, the House of Representatives announced its appointments to NACIQI; appointments by the Senate and USDE were announced previously.

House Democrats appointed:

• Benjamin Allen, President of the University of Northern Iowa
• William “Brit” Kirwan, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland
• Carolyn Williams, President of Bronx Community College

House Republicans appointed:

• Arthur Keiser, Chancellor of Keiser University
• Arthur Rothkopf, Senior Vice President and Counselor to the President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• William Pepicello, President of the University of Phoenix

Previously, Senate Democrats appointed:

• Dan Klaich, Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education
• Cameron Staples, member of the Connecticut State House of Representatives
• Larry Vanderhoef, Chancellor Emeritus of the University of California, Davis

Senate Republicans appointed:

• Bruce Cole, past Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities and a former professor and department chair at Indiana University, Bloomington
• Anne Neal, President of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni
• Michael Poliakoff, former Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research at the University of Colorado

USDE’s appointments to NACIQI are:

• Earl Lewis, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Emory University
• Susan Phillips, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Albany State University
• Jamienne Studley, President and CEO, Public Advocates, Inc.
• Aron Shimles, Student, Occidental College
• Frank Wu, Professor, Howard University School of Law
• Frederico Zargoza, Vice Chancellor of Economic and Workforce Development for Alamo Colleges

The House and Senate appointees will now be “vetted,” a review process for appointees to all federal advisory committees. USDE's appointees already have undergone the vetting process.

The committee - which meets twice yearly in Washington - has not met since June 2008. Following the vetting process, it is anticipated that the members of NACIQI will undergo training for the committee sometime after Labor Day, with a first formal meeting of the committee to occur in late autumn or early winter.

This Update will inform CHEA members and interested parties on federal policy developments related to self-regulation and peer review. Please direct any inquiries or comments to Jan Friis, CHEA’s Vice President of Government Affairs, at friis@chea.org or at (202) 955-6126.

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