Indiana University of
Pennsylvania has received reaffirmation of accreditation from the Middle States
Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104
(267-284-5000). The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is an
institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education
and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Institutions are
evaluated based on 14 standards of accreditation and a three-year, universitywide
self-review (self-study).
In making the reaffirmation
announcement, IUP was commended by the evaluators on the quality of the IUP
self-study process.
“Accreditation by the Middle States Commission
on Higher Education is vitally important to our university, offering external
validation of IUP’s commitment to excellence in higher education,” IUP
President Michael Driscoll said. “The three-year endeavor has truly been universitywide,
engaging hundreds of faculty members, staff, students, and university
leadership to develop an authentic, accurate, and insightful self-assessment of
our great university.
“IUP’s process has
been expertly led by cochairs Laura Delbrugge and Hilliary Creely. I
want to publicly thank them, once again, for their diligence and commitment to
this process. Distinguished University Professor Ben Rafoth, faculty writer
for the self-study, did a yeoman’s job in synthesizing the thousands of hours
of work of the seven subcommittees into a document that will guide IUP as it
moves to achieve our shared vision.”
Since the first
meeting of the steering committee in May 2013 and call for volunteers, more
than 300 staff, faculty, students, and administrators stepped forward to serve;
200 individuals were appointed to the subcommittees. Members of the university
community participated in open forums in strong numbers, and welcomed the visiting
team to campus in April.
As
part of the reaffirmation of accreditation, IUP has been asked to submit a monitoring
report regarding assessment by April 2018.
“We
have viewed this accreditation affirmation process as an opportunity, a chance
to become an even stronger university by examining what we do well and where we
can do better,” Driscoll said. “This request for a monitoring report is not a
condition of IUP’s accreditation, and, in fact, is an opportunity to demonstrate
our continued progress regarding institutional and student learning outcomes
assessment.”
IUP was first accredited in 1941; since that time, the
university has received consecutive reaffirmations of accreditation.