On March 3, a team of administrators from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education — an association of more than 500 schools located primarily in the Mid-Atlantic — completed a site visit of eight Temple locations.

The four-day visit was a critical stage in the reaffirmation of the university's accreditation, the process of voluntary self-analysis and regulation that assures the quality of American colleges and universities. The team met with hundreds of faculty members, students and staff at all levels, toured facilities from Harrisburg to Tokyo and witnessed student performances and exhibits.

"I would like to thank everyone in the Temple community for participating in the site visit," said Temple President Ann Weaver Hart. "The accreditation process has so many cascading benefits. Preparing the self-study gave us a chance to thoroughly and candidly assess ourselves, and the site visit provided a wonderful opportunity to share what we have achieved."

The nine-member Middle States team was led by University of Delaware President Emeritus David P. Roselle, currently the director of the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate in Delaware. Roselle and his colleagues assessed whether Temple has met the commission's standards in areas such as mission, goals, institutional planning, resources and resource allocation, leadership and governance, administration, integrity, institutional assessment, educational effectiveness, student admissions, student support services, faculty, educational offerings, general education and assessment of student learning.

In an exit meeting on Wednesday afternoon, the Middle States team said positive things about Temple and its programs. According to the commission's guidelines, the university will not receive the commission's formal statement on Temple's accreditation until June, at which time the visiting team's final report will be available to the public.

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Lisa Staiano-Coico praised the efforts of the Temple's Middle States Steering Committee.

"So many faculty and staff have poured so much of their time and energy since fall 2008 into the reaccreditation process," Staiano-Coico said.

Temple's self-study and more information about accreditation are available at www.temple.edu/middlestates