The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) reaffirmed the accreditation of the University of Mary Washington to award bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The reaffirmation was announced at a meeting of SACSCOC in Atlanta on December 10.
“It is another milestone in UMW history,” University President Richard V. Hurley said from Atlanta. “I am extremely proud of this accomplishment, which validates our commitment to delivering the highest quality of education to our students.”
What the reaffirmation demonstrates, Hurley continued, “is that UMW meets and surpasses the highest standards of peer scrutiny in every operational area.” The success is attributable, he said, to “much hard work on the part of many administrators, faculty, and staff.”
SACSCOC is the regional accrediting body for higher education institutions in 11 U.S. Southern states.
Coming a decade after UMW’s last reaffirmation of accreditation, the action concludes a comprehensive three-year review of the University’s operations. During that time, UMW has had to prove its compliance with requirements of the federal government and the regional accrediting body. As part of this process, UMW submitted its Compliance Certification Report in September 2012 and its Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) in February 2013. In April, a 10-member team from peer institutions spent three days at UMW to assess its programs and services.
The University of Mary Washington was first accredited by SACSCOC in 1930, and its accreditation was last reaffirmed in 2003.
The University of Mary Washington is a premier, selective public liberal arts and sciences university in Virginia, highly respected for its commitment to academic excellence, strong undergraduate liberal arts and sciences program, and dedication to life-long learning. The university, with a total enrollment of more than 5,000, features colleges of business, education and arts and sciences, and three campuses, including a residential campus in Fredericksburg, Va., a second one in nearby Stafford and a third in Dahlgren, Va., which serves as a center of development of educational and research partnerships between the Navy, higher education institutions and the region’s employers. In recent years, the university has seen its academic reputation garner national recognition in numerous selective guidebooks, including Forbes, the Fiske Guide to Colleges and the Princeton Review’s 2012 edition of 150 “Best Value Colleges” and the 2014 edition of “The Best 378 Colleges.”
Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call (404) 679-4500 for further information about the accreditation of the University of Mary Washington.
