Gallaudet University receives continuous accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education

Watch or read President Cordano’s announcement below.

Dear campus community: 

I am proud to announce that Gallaudet University has received continuous accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (Middle States). This marks the successful closure of a rigorous 18-month self-study evaluation, concluding with a site visit by a Middle States team in March 2023. 

The Middle States Accreditation Standards are made up of seven standards and 15 requirements to ensure that institutions maintain excellence in education and dedication for their students. As an accredited institution, we are expected to demonstrate compliance with these standards and requirements every eight years and engage in an ongoing process of self-review and improvement in between. 
 
The executive summary of the self-study report is in both American Sign Language and English – a first for both Gallaudet and Middle States. This report, as well as the site visit, allowed us to showcase the vibrancy of our signing community and our bilingual way of teaching and learning. The site visit team, during their exit report, showed an appreciation for our strong bilingual community, with an affirmation of our strengths, challenges, and recommendations. We will continue to implement feedback identified during the self-study over the coming months. You can find these on our website, and we will continue to engage with the community as we have since the start of our self-study process in 2021. 

On behalf of the entire Gallaudet University community, as well as the Board of Trustees and the Executive Team, I want to reiterate our deep gratitude to everyone who contributed to our Self-Study Report and who supported the site team visit. This was the culmination of many months of hard work by eight workgroups, led by the core team of Caroline Kobek Pezzarossi, William Ennis, and Kristin Mulrooney. Crystal Harris also was part of the leadership team early on.  

Our next accreditation site visit will be during the 2030-2031 academic year. In the meantime, we can proceed at full speed, having shown once again that there is no other place in the world like Gallaudet!  

Sincerely, 
  

Roberta J. Cordano 
President