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On the Role of the Site Visitor as Consultants & Program Reviewers
Nick Flynn, Associate Professor of Biochemistry

The most important thing that a site visitor must remember is that they are not a direct representative of the National Collegiate Honors Council. They must also remember though that anything that they say in their site visit report or do during their site visit must reflect positively upon the NCHC. Finally, all of this must be tempered with the fact that the site visitor is ultimately responsible to the campus entity that has invited them on campus for the site visit. Quite often, that is the Honors Program director or a related entity, but this may not always be the case.

The first thing that a site visitor must do in accepting an invitation to conduct a site visit is to produce a comprehensive list of information items that the site visit host should prepare. In the event that the information items are not received in the requested time frame, the site visitor has a responsibility to contact their host to make sure that there is no misunderstanding in regard to when these materials should be delivered. A timely review of the materials is required in the event that additional items or clarifications must be provided prior to the site visit. The site visitor must then prepare for the site visit by contacting any other members of the site visit team.

Prior to arriving on campus, the site visitor should make sure that they are aware of any political “land mines” or obstacles that should not be broached during the site visit. Once again, this information should be obtained from the site visit host. Additionally, they should conduct a comprehensive review of the agenda for the site visit and make requests to meet additional campus entities if necessary. The site visitor should make certain that at least one hour of time is set aside each day to allow for any additional visits deemed necessary during the visit.

Upon arriving to campus, the site visitor has a responsibility to make sure that meetings stick to the planned agenda in order to make sure that they can meet everybody that they are supposed to. This also goes back to the importance of the site visitor reflecting positively on NCHC. With the exception of the identified “land mine” issues, a site visit host has the right to expect the site visitor to ask frank questions and to demand frank replies. The approach to conversations should be professional, and polite but not acquiescent unless the situation deems it absolutely necessary.

At the end of the visit, the site visitor should give the site visit host a “heads up” in regard to what the site visit report will reflect. This should be performed in “broad” strokes in order to assure that the site visitor has the flexibility to put what needs to be placed in the report. If there is anything that can be corrected prior to or around the time that the site visit report is submitted this would be the time to include those remarks.

The site visit host has the right to expect that the site visit report draft will be produced in approximately one month. Any factual errors or corrections will be provided back to the site visitors and then the final site visit report will be prepared and submitted. The site visitor does have a responsibility to follow through on the site visit report and should at the very least make two contacts following submission of the final report to make sure that there are no lingering questions or issues that they could help with.