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