Accreditation
Accreditation
About MSCHE
"Bryn Athyn College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). MSCHE is recognized as an accrediting organization by the United States Department of Education."
In order to maintain its accreditation status, Bryn Athyn College must sustain compliance
with the MSCHE Standards and Requirements of Affiliation and MSCHE Policies and Procedures.
View more information about MSCHE and the MSCHE Mission.
Submit a Third-Party Comment or Complaint
If you wish to submit a third-party comment or complaint, you can do so by clicking one of the links below. Third-party comments are accepted during a self-study (more information can be viewed on MSCHE website regarding third-party comments).
- Submit a third-party comment or complaint to MSCHE
- Submit a complaint to the Pennsylvania Department of Education
Accreditation Review Cycle for Bryn Athyn College
Accreditation Granted: 1952
Phase: Accredited
Status: Non-Compliance Warning
Last Reaffirmation: 2013
Next Self-Study Evaluation: 2021-2022
Bryn Athyn College is an accredited institution and a member of the Middle States
Commission on Higher Education. Bryn Athyn College’s accreditation status is currently
Non-Compliance Warning. The Commission’s most recent action on the institution’s
accreditation in June 2022 was to warn the institution.
Details about the accreditation of Bryn Athyn College including, accreditation actions,
delivery methods, and credential levels can be found at MSCHE Accreditation for Bryn Athyn College.
Annual Institutional Update (AIU): (August 29 - September 28, 2022)
The AIU requires BAC to provide key data indicators on an annual basis, including
but not limited to enrollment, financial information, and measures of student achievement.
The data submitted from the AIU are aggregated into trends for use in other monitoring
and review processes.
Mid-Point Peer Review (MPPR): (2026)
The Mid-Point Peer Review, or MPPR, is a peer review of the accumulated financial
data, student achievement data and responses to Commission recommendations (if requested
in a prior Commission action) submitted by institutions through a series of Annual
Institutional Updates. The MPPR occurs 4 years after the completion of a Self-Study.
Self-Study: (April 2022, completed)
Every 8 years Bryn Athyn College is required to complete a self-study. This process
begins two years prior to the formal submittal of the self-study report. The institution
chooses two people to lead the institution through the Self-Study process. The Self-Study
co-chairs and the Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) attend the Self-Study Institute
where MSCHE staff walk through the complete process.
The Self-Study includes a rigorous self-examination of all aspects of the college to ensure compliance with the MSCHE Standards and Requirements of Affiliation. This is also a time for the college to reflect on how it achieves its mission, take note of what it does well and identify opportunities for improvement.
The co-chairs assemble working groups that are representative and inclusive of all areas on campus to assess and collect evidence of compliance. It is important that the perspectives of all constituencies are considered. For that reason, the working groups are comprised of faculty, staff, administration, students, alumni and trustees.
The findings of the working groups culminate in a 100-page written report that is presented to a group of 6-10 peer evaluators carefully selected by MSCHE staff to help the college focus on self-identified institutional priorities. The peer evaluators read the report and review the evidence compiled by the college thoroughly. This is followed by a three day on campus visit in which the visiting team will interview a wide range of constituencies to determine compliance with the Standards and the Requirements of Affiliation and MSCHE Policies.
At the end of the visit the peer evaluators will recommend an accreditation action. The Commission then reviews the recommendation of the peer evaluators and issues formal action leading to reaffirmation of accreditation for another 8 years, a warning with follow-up actions, or requiring the college to show cause as to how they can remediate serious non-compliance.
| Phase 1: | |||
| Chairs attend Self-Study Institute | October | 2019 | ✓ |
| Self-Study Steering Committee and Working Group chairs identified and charged. | November -December | 2019 | ✓ |
| Begin drafting the Self-Study Design | December | 2019 | ✓ |
| Working Groups start to analyze data and develop lines of inquiry | April – May | 2020 | ✓ |
| Self-Study Design accepted by MSCHE | August | 2020 | ✓ |
| Phase 2: | |||
| Working Groups meet bi-monthly, gather and analyze data and submit monthly progress reports to Steering Committee | August - December | 2020 | ✓ |
| Steering Committee meets monthly to review Working Group progress reports | August - December | 2020 | ✓ |
| MSCHE Liaison Self-Study Prep Visit (virtual) | September | 2020 | ✓ |
| Phase 3: | |||
| Team Chair and visit dates chosen | January - March | 2021 | ✓ |
| Begin writing draft of Self-Study Report | January -February | 2021 | ✓ |
| First draft of Self-Study Report submitted to the campus community for feedback | May | 2021 | ✓ |
| Self-Study revisions incorporated into a second draft; Evidence Inventory compiled | June - August | 2021 | ✓ |
| Second draft of Self-Study Report submitted to the campus community for feedback | September | 2021 | ✓ |
| Draft shared with Team chair in preparation for campus visit. | Prior to October 8 | 2021 | ✓ |
| Team Chair’s preliminary visit to campus. | October 25-26 | 2021 | ✓ |
| Final revisions and review of evidence inventory | November-December | 2021 | ✓ |
| Self-Study and Evidence submitted to MSCHE. | Prior to February 18 | 2022 | ✓ |
| Evaluation team visit | April 3-6 | 2022 | ✓ |
| Team Report Issued and Institutional Response | April | 2022 | ✓ |
| Commission meets to determine action. Visits after April 15 are acted on by the Commission at the November meeting. | June | 2022 | ✓ |
Bryn Athyn’s institutional priorities represent areas of significant educational and operational focus and are topics of active conversation among various stakeholders on campus. The initial draft was first articulated by the Self-Study Co-chairs and the Accreditation Liaison Officer after they attended the MSCHE Self-Study Institute. These priorities have been modified and honed through a consultative process. Feedback has been sought from the following individuals and groups:
- President
- President’s Cabinet
- Self-Study Steering Committee
- Self-Study Working Groups
- LIONS Committee (a retention-focused committee with cross-campus representation)
- Faculty Council
- College Committee of the Board of Trustees
- End-of-year meeting of all employees
Bryn Athyn’s institutional priorities are as follows:
Priority 1: New Church Higher Education
How do we meaningfully draw on our New Church educational mission to educate and better
prepare the members of our diverse student body for their futures, and how do we grow
as an intellectual center for Swedenborgian research and thought?
Priority 2: Student Success
What strengths do students develop through their education at Bryn Athyn College?
Priority 3: Finding a Sustainable Model
What financial and enrollment models position us for sustainability?
Priority 4: Governance
How can we improve our governance—both its model and its execution—to help our New Church educational mission flourish?
Priorities 1 and 2 focus on education and stem directly from the mission. They have driven curricular development in conjunction with Priority 3. Priorities 3 and 4 focus on operations and represent key areas of both challenge and opportunity.
Each priority has been articulated as a question in part to represent the nature of the campus dialogue related to each priority and in part to guide and connect the lines of inquiry in our Self-Study.
Bryn Athyn College seeks four key outcomes from engaging in the Self-Study process:
- To maintain accreditation by meeting the Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation. Reaccreditation allows us to continue to offer our students a strong and ever-improving education, recognized and endorsed by our higher education peers.
- To continue to assess and analyze areas that need improvement and commit to strategies to strengthen those areas. We aim to enhance the work of our regular assessment processes by using the Self-Study to evaluate institutional effectiveness more comprehensively, particularly with regard to the institutional priorities identified above.
- Align and strengthen the vision among stakeholders of what mission attainment looks like. Because the Self-Study process is rooted in institutional mission, and because determining how Bryn Athyn can best meet its mission is a current conversation on campus and among alumni, we will use the process to clarify and highlight what is effective with regard to mission-focused education, and to explore and address what is not.
- Engage the College community in an inclusive and transparent self-appraisal process that actively and deliberately seeks to involve members from all areas of our community. For any Self-Study to be meaningful, the process needs to effectively engage all members of the campus community. In addition, improving communication is a priority on campus at the present time, in response to a recent employee engagement survey (May 2019) that highlighted a need for it.
| Self-Study Steering Committee | |
| Name (Working Group) | Title |
| Daniel Allen (Self-Study Co-chair; Working Group 6) | Chief Financial Officer |
| Wendy Closterman (Self-Study Co-chair; Working Group 5) | Dean of Academics and Faculty, Chief Academic Officer; Professor of History and Greek |
| Kelly Ballard (Working Group 3) | Head of Master of Special Education Program; Assistant Professor of Education; Member of Early Alert and Academic Advising Committees |
| Caira Bongers (Working Group 6) | Assistant Professor of Mathematics |
| Robin Cooper (Working Group 4) | Associate Dean of Academic Affairs; Assistant Professor of English and Writing |
| Jennifer DeLuca (Working Group 2) | Head of Academic Advising |
| Andrew Dibb (Working Group 5) | Dean of Theological School; Associate Professor of Religion |
| Kurt Frey (Working Group 3) | Assistant Professor of Psychology |
| Thane Glenn (Working Group 1) | Director of the Institute of Swedenborg Studies; Head of the Master of Religious Studies; Associate Professor of English, Religion, and Writing |
| Melodie Greer (Working Group 8) | Senior Data Administrator |
| Lelia Howard (Working Group 8) | Chief Information Officer; Accreditation Liaison Officer |
| Kristin King (Member at Large) | Chair of the Language and Literature Department; Professor of English and Writing |
| William Larrousse (Working Group 2) | Vice President of Enrollment Management |
| Suzanne Nelson (Working Group 4) | Dean of Students; Assistant Professor of Nutrition |
| Angela Rose (Working Group 1) | Chair of the Education Department / Assistant Professor of Education |
| Renée Rosenfeld (Working Group 7) | Director of Human Resources |
| Dan Synnestvedt (Working Group 7) | Faculty Council Chair; Associate Professor of Philosophy |
| TBD | Student Government Association Representative |
| Working Group 1 – (Standard 1: Mission and Goals) | |
| Name | Title |
| Thane Glenn (Co-chair) | Director of the Institute of Swedenborg Studies; Head of the Master of Religious Studies; Associate Professor of English, Religion, and Writing |
| Angela Rose (Co-chair) | Chair of the Education Department / Assistant Professor of Education |
| Leah Fisher | Associate Director of Campus Visits |
| Bill O’Neill | Associate Director of Athletics; Head Coach |
| Andi Sibley | Reference and User Services Librarian |
| Aram Yardumian | Head of the Human Society Major; Assistant Professor of Anthropology |
| Working Group 2 – (Standard II: Ethics and Integrity) | |
| Name | Title |
| Jennifer DeLuca (Co-chair) | Head of Academic Advising |
| William Larrousse (Co-Chair) | Vice President of Enrollment Management |
| Jonathan Carr | Coordinator of Student Activities and Multicultural Student Programming |
| Kimberly Clark | Director of Financial Aid |
| Marcy Latta | Associate Professor of Philosophy and Writing |
| Bill O'Neill | Associate Director of Athletics; Head Coach |
| Working Group 3 – (Standard III: Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience) | |
| Name | Title |
| Kelly Ballard (Co-chair) | Head of Master of Special Education Program; Assistant Professor of Education; Member of Early Alert and Academic Advising Committees |
| Kurt Frey (Co-chair) | Assistant Professor of Psychology |
| Fredrik Bryntesson | Chair of the Science Department; Associate Professor of Biology |
| Wendy Closterman | Dean of Academics and Faculty, Chief Academic Officer; Professor of History and Greek |
| Jonathan Kline | Chair of the Arts Department; Assistant Professor of Art History, |
| Sean Lawing | Chair of the History and Social Sciences Department; Assistant Professor of History and German |
| Casey Schauder | Registrar; Designated School Officer |
| Neil Simonetti | Chair of the Business, Computer Science, and Mathematics Department; Director of the Interdisciplinary Program; Professor of Business, Computer Science, and Mathematics |
| Sarah Wong | Assistant Professor in Education; Director of Field Placement and Certification and Compliance Officer; Principal Designated School Officer |
| Working Group 4 – (Standard IV: Support of the Student Experience) | |
| Name | Title |
| Robin Cooper (Co-chair) | Associate Dean of Academic Affairs; Assistant Professor of English and Writing |
| Suzanne Nelson (Co-chair) | Dean of Students; Assistant Professor of Nutrition |
| Michael Austin | Director of Residence Life |
| Jonathan Carr | Coordinator of Student Activities and Multicultural Student Programming |
| Jack Crawford | Coach |
| Jennifer DeLuca | Head of Academic Advising |
| Nicole D’Amico | Associate Director of Admissions |
| Casey Schauder | Registrar |
| Kimberly Clark | Director of Financial Aid |
| Madeline Berger | Bursar |
| Grant Schnarr | Chaplain; Associate Professor of Religion |
| Scott Jones | Director of Health and Wellness |
| Working Group 5 – (Standard V: Educational Effectiveness Assessment) | |
| Name | Title |
| Wendy Closterman (Co-chair) | Dean of Academics and Faculty, Chief Academic Officer; Professor of History and Greek |
| Andrew Dibb (Co-chair) | Dean of Theological School; Associate Professor of Religion |
| Fredrik Bryntesson | Chair of the Science Department; Associate Professor of Biology |
| Scott Frazier | Chair of the Religion, Sacred Language, and Philosophy Department; Associate Professor of Religion |
| Nina Phillips | Assistant Professor of Education |
| Kiri Rogers | Chair of the Psychology Department: Assistant Professor of Psychology |
| Working Group 6 – (Standard VI: Planning, Resources, and Institutional Improvement) | |
| Name | Title |
| Daniel Allen (Co-chair) | Chief Financial Officer |
| Caira Bongers (Co-chair) | Assistant Professor of Mathematics |
| Michael Austin | Director of Residence Life |
| Richard Daum | Director of Network Services |
| Felipe Ranjo | Admissions Counselor |
| Carol Traveny | Swedenborg Library Director |
| Working Group 7 – (Standard VII: Governance, Leadership, and Administration) | |
| Name | Title |
| Renee Rosenfeld (Co-chair) | Director of Human Resources |
| Dan Synnestvedt (Co-chair) | Faculty Council Chair; Associate Professor of Philosophy |
| Martha Gyllenhaal | Faculty Council Immediate Past Chair; Associate Professor of Art and Art History |
| Steve Kitchen | Senior Network Operations Technician |
| Philip Zuber | Secretary and General Counsel for the Academy of the New Church |
| Representative to be named | Student Government Association Member |
| Working Group (Compliance and Evidence Inventory) | |
| Name | Title |
| Melodie Greer (Co-chair) | Senior Data Administrator |
| Lelia Howard (Co-chair) | Chief Information Officer; Accreditation Liaison Officer |
| Carol Traveny | Swedenborg Library Director |