Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty Timeline

Spring 2006

• Appointment of Reaccreditation Steering Committee and Ad Hoc Faculty Advisory Group on Reaccreditation
• Barbara Brittingham, Director of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE) of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), visits Amherst in May 2006 to discuss the reaccreditation process with members of the Faculty and Administration.

Fall 2006

• Faculty advisory group develops process for drafting and approving a college mission statement
• Information about departments and majors requested from chairs
• Accreditation Web site launched
• Ongoing meetings of the steering committee and faculty advisory group
• Data collection begins
• Members of the steering committee attend NEASC self-study training workshop
• Preliminary assignment of standards to committees and administrative units
• Campus-wide discussions of what should be included in the mission statement
• Faculty advisory group meets with the Board of Trustees and circulate the first draft of mission statement

Spring 2007

• Three successive drafts of mission statement are circulated for campus-wide discussion and continuing consultation with the Board of Trustees
• Ongoing data collection and meetings of the steering committee and faculty advisory group
• Steering committee works with administrative units to draft responses to the eleven sections of the Standards for Accreditation
• Approval of the mission statement by the Faculty and Board of Trustees

Summer 2007

• Writing of first draft of self-study report
• Ongoing data collection

September 2007

• First draft of self-study report reviewed by the President’s senior staff, the faculty advisory group, and college governing committees

October 2007

• Second draft of the self-study report reviewed by President Alfred Bloom of Swarthmore College, chair of the evaluation team; Louise Zak, Associate Director of STET CIHE; the Board of Trustees; the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council; and the Advisory Committee on Personnel Policies

• President Bloom visits campus
  

November/December 2007

• Third draft of the self-study distributed to faculty members, students, administrators, and staff for review in open forums and invited meetings with key faculty and staff groups and with the Student Senate and an open meeting for students.

January2008

• Submission of final self-study report to NEASC and Amherst community

March 2-5, 2008

• NEASC evaluation team visits campus

• NEASC evaluation team report received

• President Anthony Marx and Dean of the Faculty Gregory Call meet with the CIHE to discuss the report of the Evaluation Team
• The CIHE votes to continue Amherst's accreditation

• Final Report of the CIHE received