UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Members of the campus community are invited to participate in open meetings as part of Penn State’s reaccreditation process through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Participants have the opportunity to discuss the commission's self-study report.
As part of its site visit to University Park campus, the MSCHE evaluation team will host a series of meetings for different segments of the campus community:
- Undergraduate students: 3:30-4:30 p.m., March 26, 129 AB Alumni Hall, HUB-Robeson Center
- Graduate students: 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., March 26, 129 C Alumni Hall, HUB-Robeson Center
- Staff: 2:15-3:15 p.m., March 26, 129 B/C Alumni Hall, HUB-Robeson Center
- Non-tenure line faculty: 9:15-10:15 a.m., March 25, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library
- Tenured/tenure-track faculty: 10:30-11:30 a.m., March 25, Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library
The meetings are open to all who wish to participate. Participants may join the meetings at any point, and no reservation is required. These meetings provide an opportunity for the University community to meet with the evaluation team to discuss Penn State’s self-study report and compliance with MSCHE standards for accreditation. The meetings also serve as an opportunity to recognize the University’s strengths as well as opportunities for improvement.
Students, faculty, and staff at other Penn State locations can email selfstudy@psu.edu for a Zoom-based option to participate.
On the final day of its visit, the evaluation team will report its results to the University community at 10 a.m. on March 27 in Foster Auditorium at the Paterno Library. The meeting is open to the Penn State community and individuals can attend remotely by emailing selfstudy@psu.edu for a Zoom-based option to participate.
Every eight years, the University national accreditor, the MSCHE, requires member institutions to complete a comprehensive self-evaluation demonstrating educational quality, success in meeting institutional mission, ethical practices and positive student outcomes. The final self-study report, two years in the making, was submitted to MSCHE in February after calls for feedback from the University community. The self-study effort culminates with a site visit from a MSCHE evaluation team to University Park on March 24-27.
A team of volunteer peer evaluators will travel to Penn State to meet with students, faculty, staff and administrators to verify evidence provided in the self-study report and meet with the University community. Visits to other Penn State campuses are already underway.
After the site visit, MSCHE will review the recommendations of the evaluation team. The commission will issue a determination whether accreditation will be reaffirmed this June.
Visit the University's Self Study website to access the final report and learn more about the self-study process.
The Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research (OPAIR) supports the self-study process. Contact Marie Sullivan, director of accreditation, at mjs920@psu.edu.