Detwiler Honored for Higher Learning Commission Work

When Kuyper Academic Dean Dr. Tim Detwiler attended a recent Higher Learning
Commission conference for peer reviewers, he was honored for his 20 years of service to the HLC as a peer reviewer, including a certificate of recognition.

The Higher Learning Commission is an institutional accreditor in the United States, headquartered in Chicago, and is one of three accreditors approving Kuyper College’s programs.  The others are the Association for Biblical Higher Education and the Council on Social Work Education.

Detwiler said he enjoyed the work of an HLC peer reviewer from the start and still enjoys it two decades later.

“It was during training for an institution going through accreditation that I applied for the opportunity,” he recalled. “There are so many tasks one can perform, everything from being part of a team visit to a campus for a re-accreditation evaluation to federal compliance reviews to panel reviews evaluating new programs. And the list goes on.”

Some of his best memories, he added, have been visiting other campuses and learning best practices during visits. And, he said, he believes that Kuyper benefits as a result of his labors for the HLC.

“I learn the accreditation process inside and out,” he said. “And coming away with best practices from other schools and applying them to Kuyper is very beneficial. Finally, being a Kuyper representative in this way is good for our institutional recognition with an important group of peers.”

Kuyper President Dr. Patricia Harris agrees.

“We highly value our accreditation status with the Higher Learning Commission,” she said. “In his service as Academic Dean, Dr. Detwiler oversees this important and necessary work. And, even more, as a HLC peer reviewer, he is able to observe best practices from the institutions he visits, which can inform the work we do at Kuyper. I celebrate his 20 years as a peer reviewer.”

An Elkhart, Ind., native, Detwiler has an undergraduate degree from Cedarville University in Ohio, a master’s degree from Temple University in Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from Penn State University. He became Kuyper’s Academic Dean in 2021.