Certification Documents

Please note that a program must be in good standing as an Associate Undergraduate AUPHA member in order to go through the undergraduate certification review process.

Policies and Procedures

Official Policies and Procedures for Undergraduate Certification (Revised 2023)

Criteria Review and Revision

In the fall of 2022, AUPHA began a process to review and revise the undergraduate certification criteria. Members provided feedback via a Town Hall and an initial survey to direct volunteer teams crafting the revisions. The first draft of revisions were reviewed by undergraduate program directors and revised prior to an initial review by AUPHA's Board of Directors. The board provided additional feedback for revision and voted to approve a final draft in March 2023.

All programs going through review in 2024-2025 will be held to the newly revised criteria.

When the Board approved these criteria changes, they also convened a task force to study the Undergraduate Certification process. The Board approved process changes recommended by the task force in March 2024, which include:

Reducing the length of time for the review period
Introducing an optional fall cycle
Introducing candidacy status for programs pursuing their initial certification

These changes will be implement over three cycles. For more information, please consult Overview of Certification Process Changes Approved March 2024.

Timeline and Schedule

Undergraduate Certification Timeline 2022-2023- detailed timeline for 2023 reviews
Undergraduate Certification Timeline 2023-2024 - detailed timeline for 2024 reviews

REVISED Undergraduate Certification Timeline 2024-2025 - detailed timeline for 2025 reviews

Undergraduate Certification Timeline 2025-2026 - detailed timeline for 2026 reviews

Undergraduate Certification Timeline 2026-2027 - detailed timeline for 2027 reviews

Documents and Resources

The table below provides general information, the criteria used in each cycle, sample reports (eligibility and self-study), blank worksheets and tables, and model self-studies. For questions related to these documents or Undergraduate Certification in general, please reach out to Chris Sanyer at csanyer@aupha.org.

	2023-2024 Cycle and Before	2024-2025 Cycle and Beyond
General Information	Programs in the current cycle are held to the criteria as they existed prior to the revision process. Programs in the 2023-2024 cycle will also be held to these criteria unless they opt into the newly revised criteria. Any programs that need to submit a progress report from past cycles will use these criteria for their report.	Starting with the 2024-2025 cycle, programs will be held to newly revised criteria, as approved by AUPHA's Board of Directors in March 2023. Programs undergoing review in 2023-2024 may opt into the revised criteria if they so choose.
Criteria	Criteria for Undergraduate Certification (For all cycles through 2023-2024)	The following documents provide an overview of the revisions to the undergraduate certification criteria through 2024 and a new mapping to help better understand the content areas provided in Criterion 21: Overview of 2023 Revisions Overview of Additional Approved Criteria Changes - March 2024 Criterion 21: Content Areas-BOK Mapping Undergraduate Certification Criteria (Revised 2024)
Sample Reports	Review the samples below to see what the different reports and worksheets look like. These are samples only and are not to be used to submit any certification reports. Programs under review will receive links to the online eligibility and self-study reports. Eligibility Report - The first step in the certification process is to determine eligibility. 2023 AUPHA Undergraduate Eligibility Sample Report (PDF) Self-Study - Once a program is determined to be eligible to stand for certification, the program will receive a link to the online self-study. Undergraduate Certification Self Study Sample (PDF)	Below are a sample eligibility report and self-study survey. When a program goes up for certification, they complete and submit these items via an online portal. AUPHA provides these samples so programs can see the questions asked and prepare in advance. Submissions of these items are only accepted via the online portal. Eligibility Report (Revised 2024) Self-Study Survey (Revised 2024) Please note: the sample survey is for the 2024-2025 certification cycle. Reference to specific dates should be ignored, as they only apply to that specific cycle.
Blank Tables and Worksheets	Eligibility Worksheets - Worksheets embedded in the Eligibility Report: Faculty Overview Courses by Faculty Self-Study Worksheets - Worksheets embedded in the Self-Study: College/University Committee Course Competencies Course Content Faculty Scholarship Faculty Service	Eligibility Worksheets - Worksheets embedded in the Eligibility Report: Criterion D - Faculty Overview (Revised 2023) Criterion E - Courses by Faculty (Revised 2023) Self-Study Worksheets - Excel worksheets embedded in the Self-Study: Criterion 7 - College/University Committees Criterion 8 - Faculty Scholarship Criterion 8 - Faculty Service Criterion 19 - Course Competencies Criterion 21 - Course Content NEW: Criterion 25A - Data Measures for Student Competencies NEW: Criterion 25B - Student Competencies Improvement Table NEW: Criterion 26A - Data Measures for Program Level Outcomes NEW: Criterion 26B - Program Level Outcomes Improvement Table
Model Self Studies	Below are the self-studies of several certified programs that have successfully met the certification criteria. Review the models as a guide on how to complete a self-study. East Carolina University Self Study (2017) Florida A&M University Self Study (2022) Samford University Self Study (2022) Towson University Self Study (2022)	There are not yet any exemplars for the newly revised criteria. Though some programs undergoing review in 2023-2024 may opt into the newly revised criteria, there may not be examples here until after the 2024-2025 cycle. Please check back in future years.