Accreditation as opportunity: Preparing future nursing leaders through faculty collaboration and succession planning

Preparing for Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accreditation requires extensive faculty engagement, yet the literature offers limited guidance on operational strategies to cultivate collaboration and mentorship during this process. This article describes the Keigwin School of Nursing's adaptation of Benner's novice to expert framework and Haverkamp et al.'s (2018) "map for accreditation" to design a collaborative approach for developing the self-study report and preparing for a site visit. Junior faculty were paired with experienced mentors in dyads, assigned to analyze key elements of the CCNE Standards, and reported findings back to cross-program Standard Teams. This structure fostered faculty development, enhanced understanding of accreditation processes, and promoted succession planning. Standardized meeting minutes, end-of-year committee reports, and the use of stoplight tracking tools provided systematic evidence of continuous quality improvement. Faculty-wide meetings and individualized support further strengthened readiness and confidence for site visit engagement. The outcome was full faculty participation, successful alignment of undergraduate and graduate program reaccreditation cycles, and no accreditation compliance concerns reported for any program. These results underscore the value of mentorship, collaboration, and succession planning in accreditation preparation and highlight the potential to address national challenges in faculty shortages, destabilization of higher education, and the need for a unified nursing faculty voice in academic advocacy.