They, along with the Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and special committees worked tirelessly for this accomplishment which begins a new time of academic possibilities and potential growth for seminarians and other scholars individually and for our Metropolitan Church in the United States as well.”
Accreditation is a primary means of quality assurance in North American higher education. By seeking this designation, the Byzantine Catholic Seminary agrees to hold itself to mutually accountable agreed-upon standards of educational quality. These standards emphasize the importance of institutional and educational effectiveness. Degrees issued by the Seminary will now be recognized and accepted at other fully-accredited institutions.
“This accreditation is the result of many years of effort by our faculty, staff, Board of Directors, Advisory Council and countless volunteers,” said Fr. John G. Petro, the Seminary’s Rector. “With this honor, the Seminary will continue to grow in excellence and quality, and be nationally recognized as a true center of learning in the Byzantine Catholic Tradition.”
Dr. Betty Radvak Shovlin of Pittsburgh served as the Director of the self-study. “The Seminary underwent a close scrutiny of its life for years to identify the qualities of excellence that already existed and those that needed to be achieved,” she noted. “The standards it must adhere to for institutional strength and educational effectiveness were high. It is so satisfying to see how people from many disciplines with many talents worked together to achieve this goal.”
Accreditation is governed by standards adopted by the member schools of the Commission. These standards cover a broad range of institutional issues and require the approval of degree programs offered by member schools.
The Commission is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and by the nongovernmental Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) for the accreditation of graduate, professional theological schools in the United States. The Commission, through its Board, works cooperatively with regional accrediting associations in the U.S., other professional associations, state departments of education, and other allied organizations in Canada and the United States.
The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) is a membership organization of more than 250 graduate schools that conduct post-baccalaureate professional and academic degree programs to educate persons for the practice of ministry and for teaching and research in the theological disciplines.
-Susan Seiden Carlino
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