I will be spending the better part of next week with a team of scholars engaged in an accreditation site visit for another theological training institution.
Over my years in higher education I have been on the other side of these conversations numerous times, but this will be my first time serving as a visitor on such a site visit. I have to confess that I didn’t fully appreciate the scope of the task I agreed to, when I agreed to serving as a site visitor. The labor of deeply listening to, and getting inside another organization’s mission, values, histories, curricula, systems, polity, people, etc. is monumental. That said, this is one of realms of the academy I’ve grown to appreciate.
This kind of higher ed. accreditation is essentially institutional peer review. The process of peer review can be such a beautiful gift. The process of – as best as one is able – articulating your idea and then submitting your work to the wisdom and imagination of colleagues can yield such beauty, insight, and even protection. It can go sour too, when people slip into a competitive modes, etc., but fortunately that has very rarely been my experience. And as always, such experiences expand one’s capacity for self-reflection, awareness and helps one see their own organization(s) with fresher eyes.
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to serve another seminary in this way, and to spend time with the other site visitors. While it will be a lot of work, I hope to have fun doing it. Wish me luck!
Peace, dwight
