SAN DIEGO: OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR
March 12, 1998
ALL AT UCSD
SUBJECT: Reaffirm Institutional Accreditation
Dear Colleagues:
During 1998 UCSD will complete the process, mandated by the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), of reaffirming its
institutional accreditation with the Senior Accrediting Commission of
Schools and Colleges, which is part of WASC. The Accrediting Commission has recognized four major purposes of
accreditation:
* To assure the educational community, the general public, and other
organizations and agencies that an institution has clearly defined
objectives appropriate to higher education and that it meets Commission standards;
* To encourage institutional development and improvement through self
study and periodic evaluation by qualified peer professionals;
* To develop and use standards to assess and enhance educational quality
and institutional performance, and to validate these standards by ongoing
research; and
* To promote interchange of ideas among public and independent
institutions through peer review.
On March 17-20, 1998, the WASC Accreditation Team will conduct a site
visit on our campus. The purpose of the site visit is to allow the
visiting team to have open discussions with members of our campus in
response to our Self Study. All interested members of the campus are
invited to meet with the Accreditation Team during open forums on March 19,
1998 at the following designated times:
Time	Location	Group
1:00 p.m.	Conference Room 111A	Faculty
2:00 p.m.	Conference Room 111A	Staff
3:00 p.m.	Conference Room 111A	Students
A website has been developed to provide members of the visiting team,
other WASC and university officials, UCSD students, faculty and staff and
the general public with easy access to the pertinent information about UCSD
and our Self Study. The web site is located at
http://planning.ucsd.edu/accred-main.htm. The accreditation process is very important to our campus. Please join me
in welcoming the Accreditation Team and assisting them in this important
effort.
Robert C. Dynes
Chancellor