Middlebury Seeks Community Input during Reaccreditation Visit in November

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Middlebury College seeks input from the campus community during the second phase of its 10-year reaccreditation process—a visit from a team of peers that will take place November 3–6. The eight-member team will hold meetings for faculty, staff, and students during their time on campus. At the conclusion of their site visit, the team will also give a public presentation of their observations.

“We want people to give input,” said Provost Jeff Cason, who co-chaired the Middlebury reaccreditation process along with Associate Provost for Planning LeRoy Graham. “This is a chance to have external folks look at our operations and give us some external perspective on the way we do things.”

Middlebury is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In addition to qualifying institutions to receive federal financial aid, the accreditation process prompts colleges to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses.

“It’s important because it gives us a chance every 10 years—plus an interim report every five years—to look at how we’re doing and identify areas to work on, then get validation from outside sources,” said Graham.

Middlebury began the current reaccreditation process in early 2018 when Cason, Graham, and a steering committee representing Middlebury’s several constituencies held content-development workshops on the Middlebury and Monterey campuses. Those discussions led to an initial draft for each of the nine standards by which NECHE evaluates institutions. In June of this year, the committee submitted Middlebury’s final 100-page self-study to NECHE, concluding the first phase of the process.

The external team’s November site visit will wrap up phase two, which also included site visits to the Language Schools, the Bread Loaf School of English, the Middlebury Institute, and the School in Jordan.

Following the November visit, President Laurie Patton and the chair of the visiting team will meet with NECHE president Barbara Brittingham to discuss the team’s findings in advance of their final report and recommendations, which are due in April 2020.

Faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to attend one of the following meetings during the accreditation team’s visit:

• Staff open meeting: Monday, Nov. 4, 12:30–1:30 p.m., Wilson Hall in McCullough.
• Faculty open meeting: Monday, Nov. 4, 4:30–5:30 p.m., MBH 216.
• Student meeting: Tuesday, Nov. 5, noon–12:50 p.m. Lunch will be provided. RSVP by October 30.

In addition, faculty, staff, and students are invited to the final meeting of the review team’s visit, the “report out,” which will be held in Wilson Hall in McCullough on Wednesday, November 6, at 11:00 a.m.

View the Middlebury self-study here.