Institutional Background
Hawkeye Community College was organized May 25, 1966, under the name of Hawkeye Institute of Technology. As of July 1, 1993, the institution was officially named Hawkeye Community College. In 1995, the twentieth year of accreditation, Hawkeye Community College underwent reaccreditation and received a full ten-year accreditation from the North Central Association of Community Colleges and Schools. The College applied to the Higher Learning Commission of North Central Association for AQIP membership in 2002 and membership was granted in November 2002. The College utilized AQIP through February 2017. The Higher Learning Commission completed an on-site visit during November 2016. The College was reaffirmed for accreditation on March 2, 2017. As part of that reaffirmation, the College was granted the opportunity to reevaluate their accreditation pathway to determine if the wanted to remain in the same pathway or chose a new one. The College applied and was approved to convert from AQIP to Open Pathways in March of 2017. Open Pathways follows a 10-year cycle focused on quality assurance and institutional improvement. The next accreditation from The Higher Learning Commission comes in June of 2021 with an Assurance Review. An on-site visit by the Iowa Department of Education took place in February of 2015. The Iowa Department of Education conducted an on-site equity review visit in April of 2015. The next comprehensive accreditation visit by the Iowa Department of Education is scheduled for academic year 2019-2020. In addition, the College is accredited by numerous specialized professional accrediting bodies for its various academic programs.
Affirmative Action Plan
The purpose of this Affirmative Action Plan is to reaffirm Hawkeye Community College’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. The existence of this plan should not be construed as an admission, either in whole or in part, that Hawkeye Community College is a government contractor or subcontractor as that term is defined and used in Executive Order 11246, as amended, or its implementing regulations. The terminology used in this plan is used in the Iowa Code and the Iowa Department of Education regulations. Therefore, none of the terminology used (e.g., under-representation) should be construed as an admission by Hawkeye Community College, in whole or in part, that in fact either minorities or women have been, or presently are being, underutilized or discriminated against in any way in violation of federal or state fair employment practice laws. Further, nothing contained in this plan or its supporting data should be construed as an admission by Hawkeye Community College that it has contravened any such employment practice laws.
Equal Employment Opportunities and Nondiscrimination Policy
In developing and implementing this plan, Hawkeye Community College has been guided by its policy of providing equal employment opportunities. The use of goals in this plan is not intended to discriminate against any individual or group of individuals with respect to any employment opportunity for which they are qualified on the grounds that they are not the beneficiaries of affirmative action themselves. Nothing herein is intended to sanction the discriminatory treatment of any person. Goals in this plan are not intended to be rigid, inflexible quotas that must be met, but rather as targets reasonably attainable by applying every good faith effort in implementing this plan.