As you begin the accreditation process, the major tasks for the next two years include the following:
In addition to these resources, your CEPH staff liaison can help to answer any questions. If you do not know who your staff liaison is, email [email protected] and we will connect you!
When?
Start today! Our experience with dozens of applicants suggests that self-study preparation will require 12‑18 solid months of work.
How?
Begin with CEPH’s SBP data templates or PHP/SPH data templates. These outline the basic data you will need to collect. Begin gathering data from various sources—“cleaning” the data and making it consistent and clear for the self-study will likely be one of your major challenges. Collecting these data will be an ongoing obligation for as long as you are accredited, so it is important to develop processes to update and review all data on a regular cycle.
After you are familiar with the data templates, use the appropriate self-study report template (for SPH) OR self-study report template (for PHP) OR self-study report template (for SBP) and ERF guide (for SPH/PHP) OR ERF guide (for SBP) to start pulling data and narrative together. Follow the instructions provided on the first page of both documents.
Contact me for feedback or clarification. Experience has shown that the most successful self-study submissions come from institutions that contact CEPH staff as soon as they encounter difficulties in understanding the criteria or the scope or nature of required information.
Who should be involved?
Most successful self-study processes include broad participation (e.g., by faculty, students, alumni, community constituents), with faculty or staff assuming primary writing/data collection roles and providing a final, single editorial eye for document consistency. Defining roles will help distribute the workload and ensure that the process fulfills CEPH’s expectations that a broad array of individuals was involved in the self-study process.
When?
The AOW is a two-to-three-day event that details accreditation criteria and requirements. The AOW is required for all applicants.
Information about upcoming AOW dates and registration is available on the CEPH website.
When?
Consultation visits are required for all applicants. The consultation visit is intended as a working day, with an agenda developed by you. Applicants should plan to host the consultation visit in the first year of the applicant period to avoid delays in the initial accreditation process.
Scheduling the visit for a date about 12 months after your application is accepted is advisable, but only if you are able to use the time between IAS acceptance and consultation visit to work on your self-study. To prepare for the consultation visit, the accreditation unit must undertake enough initial work on the self-study to have a day’s worth of questions, requests for clarification, and topics for discussion. The most helpful consultation visits are based on a full draft of the preliminary self-study.
If you get stuck or encounter difficulties preparing a sufficient amount of material for your CEPH consultant to review during the visit, contact me, and I will help you troubleshoot.
How?
Contact Mollie Mulvanity 4-6 months in advance of your preferred date. It is helpful to have a few possible dates available because requests are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. Review our FAQ document on consultation visits for additional details on preparation for the consultation visit.
When?
Start thinking now, though no immediate action is required. The first step will be scheduling the dates of your site visit. Note your preliminary self-study due date, which was provided in the letter notifying you of your application’s acceptance. The site visit will be in the semester (spring/fall) AFTER that date. For example, if your preliminary self-study due date is 10/7/26, your site visit would typically be sometime between January and June 2027. Begin looking at your academic and other calendars and thinking about dates that will work best. Note that site visits are available during 10 months of the year: CEPH does not conduct site visits in July or August.
How?
There’s no need to take specific action yet. The AOW will cover many of the details of the site visit, and you can find additional information on our website. CEPH staff will contact the program’s designated leader by email approximately 18 months before the preliminary self-study is due — having some date ranges in mind will allow you to be prepared for this invitation to schedule the site visit.
There are two additional, important pieces of information to remember while you are an applicant.
As an applicant, there is specific language that that you can use to describe your institution. Applicants may only use the following language to describe their affiliation with CEPH: “____ is an applicant for accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health.” PHPs and SBPs must also include the following language: “The accreditation review will address the ___ [list the specific degree program(s) included in the accreditation unit, as defined in the Council’s letter accepting the application]. Other degrees and areas of study offered by this institution will not be included in the unit of accreditation review.” In addition, applicant units may not use CEPH’s logo or seal. The full list related to language and public disclosures is available in the Accreditation Procedures.
If you need to make a change to your IAS after it has been accepted by the Council, you must submit an amendment to [email protected]. You can do so by using the appropriate amendment form. If you need help determining which form to use, please reach out to your CEPH staff liaison.
Please be aware that some amendments (e.g., adding degrees or concentrations to the unit) may require an extension of the applicant period.