Virtual Site Visit Planned for Middle States Reaccreditation Process

Jeanette Altarriba, interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Jason Lane, interim dean of the  School of Education, led a presentation last year on the draft Middle States report. (Photo by Scott Freedman)

Self-study co-chairs Jason Lane and Jeanette Altarriba discuss the Middle States process in this video. For more explanatory videos, visit UAlbany’s Middle States reaccreditation page.

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 21, 2020) — An early impact on UAlbany of the COVID-19 pandemic was a postponement of the University’s long-planned reaccreditation site visit from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). The visit, which had been scheduled on-campus for March 29-April 2, will now take place in a virtual format between Monday, June 1, and Thursday, June 4. All meetings will be held via Zoom.

The accreditation process, through rigorous standards, ensures the quality of an institution’s academic programs as well as its commitment to a process of continuous improvement and data-informed decision making. It also is required for campuses to be eligible to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs.

The site visit is designed to provide the visit team with additional information and the opportunity to validate the University’s self-study report. The report, which was submitted to MSCHE in February, was constructed by a team of more than 80 faculty, staff and students —with broad engagement by the university community — over the preceding two years.

MSCHE appointed a review team comprised of higher education administrators from other institutions that are also accredited by Middle States. The seven-member team, chaired by Philip Rous, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, will participate in a series of meetings with faculty, staff and students covering the seven Middle States standards over the duration of their virtual visit.

“We look forward to being one of the first virtual site visits,” said Jeanette Altarriba, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and self-study co-chair. “This very robust set of conversations is critical not only to ensure our reaccreditation but to help us think about how we can continue building and enhancing our institution in the future.”

Jason Lane, interim dean of the School of Education and self-study co-chair, said “we greatly appreciate the campus community’s engagement with the self-study process over the past 18 months, and we thank in advance the dozens of individuals who have agreed to participate in the site visit.”

For more information about UAlbany’s Middle States accreditation, including the final version of the self-study report, visit the Middle States wiki or email  [email protected].

For more news, subscribe to UAlbany's RSS headline feeds