During 1999-2000 and into spring 2001, UC Irvine has undergone the process of reaffirming its institutional accreditation. As a member of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), UCI is reaccredited every 10 years or so. Accreditation is a voluntary, non-governmental process and is a unique characteristic of American education. Its primary focus is to foster educational excellence. Each institution undergoing accreditation review has the responsibility of defining, for itself, characteristics of quality and excellence, and presenting evidence that such quality and excellence are being achieved. The self-study process recognizes institutional diversity, emphasizes collaboration, affirms the centrality of educational effectiveness, focuses on institutional purposes and results, and builds on existing evidence that UCI can use to improve itself. The WASC model defines accreditation around institutional demonstration of two core commitments: institutional capacity and educational effectiveness. In 1998, then-Executive Vice Chancellor William J. Lillyman and Professor James Fallon, the Chair of the Irvine Division of the University’s Academic Senate, appointed an Accreditation Oversight Committee. The current committee is chaired by Michael P. Clark, Associate Executive Vice Chancellor, Academic Programs and Accreditation Liaison Officer. The WASC Accreditation Team site visit is planned for April 4-6, 2001, and it will provide an opportunity for Team members to meet and engage in open discussions with members of the UCI community in response to the results of the campus’s Self-Study. Heading the WASC Team is Dr. Greg Scott, Associate Director of WASC. There will also be an extended preliminary visit by the WASC Team on January 30-31, 2001. The main body of the UCI Reaccreditation Self-Study is available in print and online; the online edition contains hyperlinks to additional supporting and supplemental online documents. Also available in the online Data Portfolio are many other documents which speak to the nine WASC Standards, which are:

• Institutional Integrity
• Institutional Purpose, Planning and Effectiveness
• Governance and Administration
• Educational Programs
• Faculty and Staff
• Library, Computing, and Other Learning Resources
• Student Services and the Co-Curricular Learning Environment
• Physical Resources
• Financial Resources

This Website has been created to provide members of the visiting WASC Accreditation Team; University officials; UCI students, faculty, and staff; and interested members of the general public with ready access to a variety of information about UCI. This use of the World Wide Web to provide relevant information about the campus in the context of accreditation is part of an experiment that places UC Irvine and WASC on the forefront of efforts to make the accrediting process more useful and efficient. Questions and feedback about this Website should be directed to the Website Manager.

The resource links and documents upon which the April 2000 UCI self-study for WASC is based are available either electronically or in printed form. An index of documents organized according to the germane chapter in the self-study report that can be accessed electronically follows. Most of the documents are in the public domain; however, because of legal access restrictions, some are not. Those documents which are not in the public domain will be available to the WASC Reaccreditation Site Visit Team solely in the Workroom.

Resource Links

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