UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Annie Everett, a second-year doctoral student in the Penn State College of Education’s higher education program, has been selected as a Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) fellow.
The CHEA Fellows Program provides senior level graduate students with experiences in the field of higher education accreditation, including recognition processes for accrediting organizations, policy development, nonprofit board oversight and operations, communications, business and finance and government affairs. The fellows spend eight weeks working in Washington, D.C., with Everett’s term beginning May 1.
Everett said she is excited and honored to have been chosen for membership in a very select group.
“The program is nationally competitive and there are only one to two spots per term available to students, so I feel very grateful for the opportunity to make this happen,” Everett said. “I came to Penn State because I wanted to return to education, return to my own educational journey and get that terminal degree under my belt. My goal is to administrate one day. Part of the reason I applied to CHEA is that I am very interested in standard-setting in higher education. The council does the highest level of standard-setting for higher education institutions in the United States. So, this is an excellent opportunity for me to land and make my way through this summer.”
Because the recognition process is a major part of CHEA’s mission, selected fellows are required to complete at least one-third of the internship by participating in this area of concentration. The fellows can select other areas and allocated times for remaining divisions of CHEA operations.
Everett plans to make the most of this valuable opportunity and said she is ready to hit the ground running.
“It should be a big start to begin with, really jumping right into the action of what are the big issues that CHEA is helping its member institutions tackle over the next year,” she said. “What are the big policy windows and opportunities that are going to come open for CHEA over the next year? I’m hoping to provide whatever kind of assistance I can. Whether it’s governmental relations work, advocacy, policy-writing or conducting research on behalf of member institutions, my work could really go in any of those directions this summer, so I’m excited to see where I can be most useful.”
Everett, who is on track to complete her doctorate in spring 2025, said she is working to keep her professional options open, but knows she wants to work in some capacity in the assessment and accreditation field, whether that be at the individual student learning outcome level or setting institutional standards.
She knows CHEA is the most-reputable name in the educational assessment and accreditation industry and both she and College of Education will benefit from her time there.
“My goal with CHEA and working with this organization is to bring a lot of that knowledge back home to Penn State, first and foremost, while I’m still in the doctoral program, but then to bring that experience to the next job,” Everett said. “Accreditation matters. It’s how we set standards for success, not just for institutions, but for individual students as well.
“Coming to Penn State has been an excellent preview for the kind of work I hope to do one day, and I’m excited to get started at CHEA this summer, and to get a new and great experience underway.”
Founded in 1996, CHEA is a nonprofit association of degree-granting colleges and institutions and recognizes institutional and programmatic accrediting organizations. CHEA is a national leader in identifying and articulating emerging issues in accreditation and quality assurance, a national forum to address issues of interest and concern in accreditation through conferences, meetings and webinars and an authoritative source of data and information about accreditation and quality assurance.
Everett has received financial support from the Penn State College of Education to support her stay in Washington, D.C., primarily from the Geraldine W. Brush Endowment.