Welcome Message from Dean, Provost and
Executive Deputy Chancellor, Terence R. Flotte, MD

 
UMass Chan Medical School is engaged in careful analysis of its mission as part of its ten-year reaccreditation cycle by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE) of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

 My vision for the accreditation of our academic health sciences  campus is to continue building on our tradition of thoughtful self-  review and mission-based planning as evidenced by our strategic planning process and further implemented during the recent T.H. Chan School of Medicine and Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing reaccreditation self-study reports. This strategy will offer us the opportunity to reaffirm our strengths and accomplishments, share our organizational story, address areas of identified need and introduce transformative change.

During the coming months, we will initiate an institutional self-study process to comprehensively evaluate our objectives. This process will also assure we have the organization, staffing and resources to accomplish and continue to accomplish our goal of serving the people of Massachusetts, as well as our mission of providing real-world impact in health sciences education, research and public service. This process will culminate with an on-site review, October 21-24, 2012 by a survey team representing our peer and aspirant institutions.

I view the accreditation process as an important opportunity for in-depth dialogue among our diverse constituencies to foster ongoing innovation and enable us to build on our successes in health science, research, nursing and medical education. This process will lead to a widely disseminated self-study report which will demonstrate our commitment to building on our successes and transparently meeting the challenges of the future.

In broadly engaging our UMass Chan community we call on you—our faculty, staff, students, leadership, clinical system partners, community-based educational affiliates and alumni—to join us in this important work.

I invite you to browse our website, contact us with your feedback and ideas, and check back often for updates and related NEASC news.

The Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE) develops, makes public and applies criteria for the assessment of educational effectiveness among institutions of higher education leading to actions on their institutional accreditation. The CIHE serves as part of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).