2029 reaccreditation process begins with self-study

The first phase of the university's upcoming reaccreditation process is underway, with the naming of a steering committee and an invitation to the community to provide input.

The committee will design and coordinate a self-study to assess how the university is meeting seven accreditation standards set by its accrediting entity, Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

The accreditation processinvolves evaluating the institution as a whole, including Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech in New York City and programs of instruction around the world, according to Steven Jackson, vice provost for academic innovation and co-chair of the steering committee with Marin Clarkberg, associate vice provost of institutional research and planning and Cornell's accreditation liaison officer.

"Accreditation is really a chance to take stock of what we're doing well and what could be improved," he said. "It's a very important chance for us to hear comprehensively across a wider range of experiences at the university than we sometimes manage to get through our normal governance and interactive processes."

Accreditation is voluntary but is a requirement for an institution's students to be eligible for federal funds such as financial aid grants and loans.

Cornell has been accredited by Middle States since 1921 and was most recently reaffirmed in 2021.

Middle States' seven standards for accreditation are: Mission and Goals; Ethics and Integrity; Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience; Support of the Student Experience; Educational Effectiveness Assessment; Planning, Resources and Institutional Improvement; and Governance, Leadership and Administration.

Each standard has its own working group, co-chaired by two faculty members. The working group chairs also serve on the steering committee.

In addition, university leadership has identified four institutional priorities: Civic Engagement and Dialogue Across Difference; Artificial Intelligence and Institutional Transformation; Research Resilience and Renewal; and Public Trust and Engagement. Each working group will address these priorities where relevant in their work.

Kathy Feith, vice president for institutional field relations at Middle States, will visit Cornell on April 9 to meet with the steering committee, campus leadership and members of the Cornell community and to review the final self-study design draft.

Members of the Cornell community are invited to meet Feith, ask questions and provide input during her visit on April 9 from 12:15-1 p.m. in Physical Sciences Building CR 401 or virtually via Zoom.

"People are welcome and encouraged to look at the accreditation process and what's involved, including the different standards, and share whatever thoughts they have at the outset of the process that can help us determine a best path forward," Jackson said.

The committee will submit a revised self-study design by June 12, and working groups assigned to each standard will work through summer 2028 to complete the study and prepare reports, which will be shared publicly. An evaluation team from Middle States will visit in the fall of 2028, and the Middle States Commission will make a decision on reaccreditation in early 2029.

Steering committee members also include Jason Hecht, institutional survey research associate; Barbara Hempstead, dean of the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences; and Victoria White, project manager, Office of the President.

Neema Kudva, professor of city and regional planning in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning; and Huseyin Topaloglu, the Eleanor and Howard Morgan Professor, Cornell Tech and Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, are members at large.

The faculty members on the committee, with the working groups they are chairing, are:

1. Mission and Goals

• Mark Lewis, the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Engineering, Duffield Engineering
• Co-chair to be named

1. Ethics and Integrity

• Bruce Lewenstein, university ombuds and professor of communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and of science and technology studies in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S)
• Klaus Kjaer, professor of clinical anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine

1. Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience

• Tara Holm, professor and chair, Department of Mathematics, A&S
• Lee Humphreys, professor and chair, Department of Communication, CALS

1. Support of the Student Experience

• Sarah Giroux, associate professor of practice, Cornell CALS Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment, and associate dean of academic affairs and strategic programs, CALS
• Co-chair to be named

1. Educational Effectiveness Assessment

• Natasha Holmes, the Ann S. Bowers Associate Professor of Physics, A&S
• Qi Wang, the Joan K. and Irwin M. Jacobs Professor of Human Development, College of Human Ecology

1. Planning, Resources and Institutional Improvement

• Lawrence Blume, the Kenneth O. Reed Professor of Economics (A&S) and associate dean for academic affairs, Cornell Bowers
• Felix Thoemmes, associate professor and chair, Department of Psychology, College of Human Ecology

1. Governance, Leadership and Administration

• Eve De Rosa, the Mibs Martin Follett Professor in Human Ecology, psychology, College of Human Ecology, and dean of faculty
• Thomas Pepinsky, the Walter F. LaFeber Professor of Government, A&S, and professor of public policy, Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy