Mount Tamalpais College is proud to announce that on January 27, 2022, we were granted Initial Accreditation by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). This is a historic moment for Mount Tamalpais College, and a landmark event in a society that has persistently excluded the incarcerated from educational opportunity. San Quentin State Prison is now the site of an academic institution unlike any other in the US: an independent liberal arts college specifically dedicated to serving incarcerated students.
We could not have achieved this without our community of supporters, faculty, alumni, staff, and friends, whose belief in our mission made this possible. MTC staff, faculty, and students played an especially critical role in hosting the first ACCJC site visit, as well as in developing new program learning outcomes and systems for assessment. Their hard work and dedication over the last two decades are the foundation and inspiration for our current achievements.
Having reached this milestone, we now continue the essential work of building a world class higher education institution at San Quentin, while helping the field of higher education in prisons across the United States to flourish. This year we will continue to improve the quality of academic instruction, expand student support services, increase access to technology and library resources, and expand our work in the realm of research and evaluation, to name just a few exciting initiatives.
We extend deep thanks to many people and institutions for their hard work and support throughout the accreditation process: Past Presidents of ACCJC Richard Winn and Stephanie Droker; Interim President Cindy Miles; ACCJC Vice President Catherine Webb; Accreditation Process Director, Elizabeth Dutton. Our ACCJC Peer Review Team, led by Dr. Keith Curry, President of Compton College provided invaluable feedback and guidance that has already profoundly strengthened us as an institution. San Quentin Warden Ron Broomfield, as well as former California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Ralph Diaz, have also supported this bold initiative from its inception.
You can read more about our accreditation journey and find the press release announcing our official accreditation here.
