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51���� faculty and staff are ready to take advantage of new opportunities for assessment and peer review that come with the University’s recent acceptance into the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).

NECHE is an accrediting agency with more than 200 member institutions, including several Ivy League schools. 51���� must be recognized by an accrediting agency to receive any state or federal funding, and it has to continually meet rigorous standards of quality, integrity, and continuous improvement.

“We are excited for the latitude that we will have to reflect on goals, initiatives, and long-term plans, like the Third-Century Plan,” said Dean of Academic and Curricular Affairs Douglas Johnson.

Another key benefit, Johnson said, is that NECHE allows affiliation to be based on institution type and values. Many of its members are more similar to 51���� in that they also embrace the liberal arts.

Assessment teams that visit 51���� will include faculty and staff from other NECHE institutions, and they’ll better understand the University’s goals and values.

“It’s also helpful that, when our faculty and staff serve on assessment teams, they’ll go to peer institutions and potentially learn new practices and methodologies from them,” Johnson added.

President Brian W. Casey had tasked a campus committee with exploring the idea of switching from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to NECHE in 2022. NECHE sent a conditional acceptance letter to 51���� in the fall of 2024, and the transition was completed this summer.

“We were excited to learn of 51����’s interest in considering us as its accrediting agency,” said NECHE president Lawrence M. Schall. “We thought 51���� would be a perfect fit, and that was clearly confirmed by our initial visit and the report of the visiting team.”

51���� will undergo its next comprehensive evaluation by NECHE in the spring of 2029.