Visit the New Applicant Information Hub for the most up-to-date resources on preparing your self-study and hosting your site visit.
Welcome to the world of CEPH accreditation. Download this narrated PowerPoint for a helpful introduction!
Accredited schools and programs: Note your expiration date. This date can be found in the letter that you received with your last accreditation decision. Contact CEPH staff if you have difficulty locating this date. Your site visit will be in the semester that includes or immediately precedes the date.
For example, if the Council conferred accreditation through July 1, 2022, your site visit should take place in winter/spring 2022, between January and June. If your accreditation continues through December 31, 2022, your site visit should take place in fall/winter 2022, between September and December.
Applicants: Note your self-study due date. This date was provided in the initial letter that you received from CEPH accepting your application. Contact CEPH staff if you have difficulty locating this date. The site visit will be in semester (spring/fall) AFTER that date.
For example, if your preliminary self-study is due on October 16, 2022, your site visit will be in the spring semester of 2023, sometime between January and June.
CEPH schedules site visits on a first-come, first-served basis, starting approximately a year and a half to two years before the visit. CEPH staff will mail each program director and dean a letter approximately two years before the visit, inviting the program director or dean to contact CEPH for site visit scheduling.
Site visits typically take place on Monday-Tuesday or Thursday-Friday for programs and Monday-Wednesday or Wednesday-Friday for schools.
First, look at your academic and other calendar events during the 4-6 month period that will include your site visit. Establish three to four sets of preferred dates. These dates should typically be during times when classes are in session, since site visitors will need to meet with a broad array of faculty and students, and this is difficult to accomplish when visits are scheduled during vacation periods. Site visitors will also want to meet with university leaders such as the president or provost and other leaders such as the college dean (for programs) or vice president for health sciences (for schools that are structured to report to such a position).
Next, contact CEPH with your preferred dates. We will communicate with you to confirm dates and will also send a formal letter to the dean or program director outlining the site visit dates and all due dates leading up to the review.
CEPH hosts an Accreditation Orientation Workshop (AOW) several times a year for accredited schools and programs. It is conducted online and consists of three-hour sessions on three consecutive dats. Each day's events include a variety of presentations and interactive sessions.
This workshop includes an overview of the accreditation process and timeline from preparing your preliminary self-study, through the site visit and accreditation decision. The workshop also includes a walkthrough of the accreditation criteria one by one.
The AOW is most useful to units with a preliminary self-study due approximately 12-18 months before the event takes place. It is best suited for faculty and key staff responsible for organizing the accreditation process, writing the self-study, and collecting required data.
The school or program is responsible for developing the site visit agenda. Agenda templates for site visits:
If you have any questions about your upcoming accreditation review, contact your staff liaison or [email protected].
The CEPH Board of Councilors will review the report at its next scheduled decision-making meeting. The council meets to make the full range of accreditation decisions four times a year. When the Council sets its meeting dates approximately one year in advance, CEPH staff will determine, based on the necessary time to accomplish all procedural steps, which site visits will be placed on the docket for each meeting. CEPH staff will communicate the timing of the Council's accreditation decision to the unit between two and six weeks before the preliminary self-study document is due, when staff send information on mailing addresses for preliminary reviewers.
You will receive the Council’s decision in writing, via e-mail, within 30 days of the meeting’s conclusion. We cannot provide decision information by phone.
Planning and preparing for a site visit typically begins approximately two years in advance.
To assist schools and programs in preparing their self-study document, CEPH has developed MS Word templates for the self-study document and Electronic Resource File (ERF) guides for schools and programs & standalone baccalaureate programs of public health.