Every ten years, Columbia University voluntarily participates in the accreditation process of the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, a recognized leader in promoting and ensuring quality and improvement in higher education. Columbia is up for re-accreditation this year.

The Office of the Provost has directed the preparations for the University's evaluation, with the help of faculty and administrative officers across the University.

As part of the accreditation process, a team of external examiners conducted an analysis of written documentation last November about the University's academic programs and administrative services to determine whether Columbia meets the Commission's 14 standards of accreditation. The examiners have submitted a positive report to the Commission.

The accreditation process also includes a review of the University's educational programs by an external visiting committee. The University has chosen to focus this portion of the review on Ph.D. education at Columbia. Among the topics Columbia is examining in the self-study are:

• Organization, size and funding of Ph.D. programs;
• Recruitment and admissions;
• Time-to-degree and attrition among Ph.D. students;
• Ph.D. curricula and faculty; and
• Student services used by Ph.D. students.

Preparations for the self-study began in the spring of 2004 with the formation of a 13-member steering committee chaired by University provost Alan Brinkley. In the fall of 2004, the Steering Committee formed four subcommittees, composed of faculty and Ph.D. students, to review various aspects of the Ph.D. programs:

1. Curriculum and training;
2. Mission and assessment;
3. Organization and resources; and
4. Student services.

From March 22–25, 2006, an eight-member external visiting committee will be on campus to meet with faculty, Ph.D. students, and deans and directors of administrative offices that provide services to doctoral students. The committee also will hold town meetings for Ph.D. students and faculty.

The members of the external visiting committee are:

• Richard Saller (chair), Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor and Provost, University of Chicago
• Marina Brownlee, Robert Schirmer Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Literature and Culture and of Comparative Literature, Princeton University
• Jon Butler, Howard R. Lamar, Professor of American Studies, History and Religious Studies and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Yale University
• Mary Fennell, Professor of Sociology and Community Health, Brown University
• K. Michael Hays, Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory, Harvard University
• Thomas Magnanti, Institute Professor and Dean of the School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Michael Matier, Director of Institutional Research, Cornell University
• Joel Oppenheim, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Senior Associate Dean for Biomedical Sciences, New York University

In preparation for their visit, the Office of the Provost has drafted a self-study of the University's Ph.D. programs. The draft is accessible on Columbia's Accreditation Web site at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/provost/midstates/midstateindex.html. Members of the University community, especially Ph.D. students and faculty who teach in Ph.D. programs, are encouraged to read and comment on the draft. Comments received by Feb. 17 will be considered in preparing the final version of the self-study that will be sent to the members of the external visiting team. Comments should be directed to Stephen Rittenberg, senior vice provost for academic administration, at sar3@columbia.edu.

Published: Feb 02, 2006
Last modified: Feb 10, 2006