Pitt maintains accreditation for another 10 years

Pitt degrees will maintain their value for another decade.

On Sunday, the University announced…Pitt degrees will maintain their value for another decade.

On Sunday, the University announced that it has earned accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education once again. The commission accredits colleges and universities in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. New York University President John Sexton led the team of university administrators who reviewed Pitt’s functions.

“To receive this external validation of our progress from such a distinguished group after they had carefully evaluated our programs is an especially satisfying form of reward for everyone involved in Pitt’s important work,” Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in a statement.

In reaccrediting Pitt, the commission relayed special praise for the University’s achievements in research.

“Over the past 15 years, the University of Pittsburgh’s reputation as a world-class research university has been advancing steadily. By any measure, this reputational advance reflects reality. From the undergraduate education it provides to the research it produces to the external awards and honors its faculty and students earn, the University can be proud of where it stands,” Sexton said in a statement.

The commission chose to grant Pitt reaccreditation after reviewing a self-study submitted by the University and paying the Pitt campus two visits, one in the fall of 2011 and one in the spring of 2012.

The commission team’s second visit coincided with the barrage of bomb threats that plagued the University last semester.

In its accreditation report for Pitt, the commission praised the school for its ability to handle the bomb threats.

“Staff, from the Chancellor to the football coach, reassured students evacuated from their residence halls late at night … the Team was moved from one threatened building to a back-up site for meetings already prepared in case it was necessary. Without advanced emergency planning, the University could not have functioned as well as it was doing as the semester came to a close,” the report said.