In a few minutes UMS will publish a  joint press release prepared with the New England Commission of Higher Education that will announce that NECHE approved our request for unified accreditation of the University of Maine System and our universities.

To say this is an important milestone is an understatement.

Unified accreditation presents a transformative opportunity for our universities to work more closely together than ever before, sharing resources and programs necessary to create more opportunities and access for our students and find collaborative new efficiencies as we advance our teaching, research, and public service missions throughout the State of Maine.

Attaining unified accreditation is a testament to your hard work so far -- of our faculty leaders and faculty Board representatives, of our university leaders, and of numerous System staff. More hard work is ahead of us, and I look forward to charging our System leaders and presidents to develop a unified accreditation Self Study process that includes broad representation and input from faculty, staff, administrators, and students from all of our universities.

In the coming weeks, we will receive written confirmation of NECHE's approval; NECHE's letter will identify issues on which the Commission would like us to focus as we move forward with unified accreditation's implementation and the Self Study work we will undertake.

Meantime, let's take pride in the innovation that we are bringing to public higher education in Maine and the United States, recognized not only by NECHE but also the U.S. Department of Education. Unified accreditation won't solve all of our problems -- we will need to work together to solve our problems, made all the more challenging as the pandemic continues. But unified accreditation presents transformative new opportunities to share resources and programs and work more closely together.

That's the way we'll succeed -- working together.

Thank you for your work for UMS.