University Times

As part of Pitt's current accreditation review, an evaluation team from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools will meet with hundreds of administrators, faculty, staff and students during its visit to the University on Nov. 12 and 13.

The evaluation team, chaired by Rochester University President Thomas Jackson, has reviewed a Pitt self-study report describing progress that Pitt has made academically and in improving student life conditions since the early 1990s.

Evaluation team members will meet with personnel from student services units such as Student Affairs and the Admissions and Financial Aid office, as well as other selected Pitt administrators, faculty, staff and students, said Vice Provost Elizabeth Baranger, who chairs Pitt's Middle States self-study steering committee. Baranger said her committee will send letters later this month, confirming invitations to meet with the evaluation team.

The team also will tour Pitt classrooms, student housing, Hillman Library and construction sites for the convocation center and the multi-purpose academic complex, Baranger said.

Based on these meetings and tours, and Pitt's self-study, the evaluation team will issue its final report – probably a month or two after the team's visit to Pittsburgh, Baranger estimated. Pitt's administration hasn't decided yet how to distribute the report to the University community, she said, although it's likely the document will be posted on Pitt's web site.

The evaluation team will submit its findings to the Middle States Association's Commission on Higher Education, which is expected to reaffirm Pitt's accreditation.

Pitt professional schools and some departments are accredited by individual associations, but the Middle States accreditation is the only one that is institution-wide.

To maintain its accreditation, Pitt undergoes a Middle States evaluation every 10 years. An accreditation attests that, in the judgment of the Middle States Association, an institution is guided by well-defined and appropriate educational goals.

The evaluation team had planned to visit Pitt last March, but the visit was postponed because of the sudden illness (and subsequent resignation from the team) of the group's original chairperson.

– Bruce Steele