Downstate Gears Up for Middle States Reaffirmation in 2025

By Office of the President | Sep 3, 2024

The U.S. Department of Education mandates that all higher education institutions be accredited to qualify for Federal Title IV student financial aid and Federal research grant funding. It delegates this accreditation and reaccreditation responsibility to six approved institutional accrediting agencies. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (Middle States) is one of these six accreditors. Downstate’s last reaffirmation of accreditation by the Middle States was in 2016, lasting eight years.

A Middle States-appointed site visit team of experienced faculty and staff will be on our campus April 6-9, 2025 to thoroughly review our compliance with the Commission’s Standards. Before their arrival, they will receive an extensive Self-Study Report and an evidence library demonstrating our efforts to comply with these Standards. This document—presently in draft form—has been created by seven working groups on our campus comprised of some 90 Downstate faculty, staff, and students. A Steering Committee of 23 faculty, staff, and students oversees this process. Supporting the work of the Steering Committee and the Working Groups is an Executive Bridge Committee comprised of campus leadership.

The self-study process and the creation of the resulting document began in September 2022. At this point, we are moving on with creating a final draft of the Self-Study Report and preparing for the April 2025 site visit. On October 29, 2024, the Chair of the Evaluation Site Visit Team will visit our campus for the day and consult with the senior leadership to finalize the logistics of the April site visit.

Middle States recognizes the value of input from all stakeholders on a campus to determine if an institution’s performance is consistent with the standards for accreditation/re-accreditation. The Middle States invites individuals to submit third-party comments when an institution undergoes this lengthy process. The deadline for submitting comments is December 1, 2024. For more information about this process, please visit the MSCHE evaluation schedule.

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University remains committed to ensuring a transparent and inclusive process as we work toward reaffirming our institutional accreditation. Thank you for your continued support and engagement.

Pascal James Imperato, M.D., MPH&TM, MACP, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer, leads the self-study process. Jeffrey S. Putman, Ed.D., Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs, and D. Kane Gillespie, DMA, Director of Evaluation, Outcomes Assessment, and Accreditation Services, chair the Steering Committee, and Lori A. Bruno, MPH, Assistant Vice President, Office of Policy and Planning co-chairs the Steering Committee. Ann Marie Cullen, Administrator, Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, serves as the Accreditation Liaison Officer. Tina Adjei-Bosompem, MPH Assistant Director of Evaluation, Outcomes Assessment, and Accreditation Services, serves in a critical supporting role for the self-study. The U.S. Department of Education mandates institutional accreditation to qualify for Federal Title IV student financial aid and federal research grant funding.

For more information on the Self-Study process, please visit the self-study website.