Middle States Accreditation Self-Study

Self-Study Overview

Introduction and Intended Outcomes of the Self-Study

Vassar College is currently preparing for its 2027–28 Middle States Commission on Higher Education reaccreditation cycle. Vassar sees reaccreditation as an opportunity to analyze the institution’s strengths and weaknesses and continue to improve. As we review our curriculum, degree programs, student support services, employment practices, leadership, and decision-making, we are mindful of the kind of process we want to create, one that is inclusive, transparent, rigorous, and meaningful.

In the end, we want to achieve the following outcomes:

  1. Demonstrate how Vassar currently meets the Commission’s Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation (Fourteenth Edition) and provide the evidence requested in the Evidence Expectations by Standard.
  2. Leverage periodic assessment through each standard, using assessment results for continuous improvement and innovation to ensure quality for constituents and the attainment of the institution's priorities, mission, and goals.
  3. Engage the institutional community in an inclusive and transparent self-appraisal process, including analysis of a range of data, to ensure students are appropriately served and institutional mission and goals are met.
  4. Conduct a broad, data-driven, and rigorous analysis of the institution to better understand our strengths and weaknesses, and use that information to inform ongoing strategic planning.

Institutional Priorities to Be Addressed in the Self-Study

Consultative Process with Community Members

Vassar conducted a campus-wide strategic planning process in 2017–18, completed its last reaccreditation in 2019, and from 2019 to 2025 implemented a strategic plan. Discussion of our last strategic plan and how it was implemented will be an important part of our self-study this year and next.

In May of 2025, President Bradley started another cycle of strategic planning. This began with consultations with the board of trustees and the senior leadership team and quickly expanded to different settings. President Bradley got feedback about Vassar’s goals and priorities from alumnae groups, administrators, staff, faculty and students at meetings throughout the Fall of 2025. Discussions were held at faculty meetings and monthly strategy meetings that included about 25 campus leaders, departmental chairs meetings, and three campus-wide workshops where participants discussed Vassar’s plans for the future and contributed ideas to poster-sized lists that were collected and organized into a spreadsheet. Though these consultations are ongoing, they have already yielded a draft of eight objectives that can guide Vassar’s strategic planning.

Vassar’s reaccreditation steering committee has been participating in these strategic consultations and conducting its own meetings since February of 2025. From February to August we recruited and oriented new steering committee members, discussed the eight objectives being identified in strategy meetings, and consulted about priorities that would guide our self-study.

By Fall of 2025 our steering committee was examining parts of Vassar's mission that we felt were particularly salient today and identifying challenges and opportunities. Co-chairs White and Tesfamariam then gave presentations on reaccreditation to several groups in the Fall of 2025, including the administrative forum, the staff forum, and the faculty meeting. They introduced the reaccreditation process, emphasized that it would both complement ongoing strategic planning and provide meaningful data for decision-making going forward, and invited the community to participate. Several community members offered to help and were included in working groups. All of these consultations have helped us identify a set of priorities that will guide our assessment efforts.

Institutional Priorities

Vassar’s mission statement, strategic planning process and recent reaccreditation meetings have informed our choice of five institutional priorities. They are:

  1. Building an inclusive community where everyone feels valued and supported.
  2. Creating forms of connection and engagement with our local community, the region and the world.
  3. Stewarding Vassar’s financial assets, facilities and infrastructure for future generations.
  4. Continually evaluating and improving the rigor, coherence, dynamism and creativity of the Vassar curriculum.
  5. Building and articulating the value of a Vassar education that creates opportunities for students and demonstrates the power and relevance of liberal arts learning in the world.