Society of American Foresters - Education

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For Accredited Programs

Accreditation is valuable to your forestry program:
  • Accreditation provides you with a structured mechanism to assess, evaluate, and improve the quality of your program.
  • Accreditation helps students and their parents choose quality college programs.
  • Accreditation enables employers to recruit graduates they know are well-prepared.
  • Accreditation is used by registration, licensure, and certification boards to screen applicants.

Resources for Accredited Programs

First Professional Degree Programs in Forestry
For specific educational curricula that leads to a first professional degree in forestry at the Bachelor's or Master's level including an urban forestry program. . Educational Programs in Forest Technology
For specific educational curricula that leads to a two-year Associate's degree in forest technology. Effective January 1, 2009.

Promoting your Accreditation

Linking to Information on Our Website
Accredited programs are welcome to link to any page of our website.

Proud to Be an Accredited Program Brochure
FOR USE BY SAF-ACCREDITED PROGRAMS ONLY.

The tri-fold brochure can be used to explain the purpose and value of accreditation to current and prospective students and their parents, college industry advisory boards, program faculty and staff, and others.

PLEASE DO NOT POST THIS FILE ON YOUR WEBSITE. You are encouraged to use the text from the brochure on your website or in your publications, but please do not post the pdf file on your website.

Please consider the following when promoting your SAF accreditation:
  • SAF accredits degree programs, not coursework, degrees, curricula, departments, colleges, or universities.
  • The comments contained in the draft and final statements from SAF, including cited strengths and observations, should never be made public, even if paraphrased.
  • Names of reviewers, team chairs, and observers who visited campus should never be made public.

Do's and Don'ts of Announcing Your SAF Accreditation

  • Do list SAF-accredited programs as separate and distinct from non-SAF-accredited programs
  • Do clearly identify under which criteria options, areas, or concentrations have been accredited.
  • Don't use the SAF logo to promote the program or publish the logo in any format (print or electronic)
  • Don't publish the term or period of accreditation, nor the specific accreditation action the program has received.
  • Don't quote any communications between the Committee on Accreditation and the program/institution; all communications between the Committee and programs/institutions are confidential.

Resources from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)

CHEA provides general information about accreditation on its website and also offers information on both general and specific accreditation topics.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does my program initiate accreditation?
Programs must submit a letter of interest directly to the SAF Executive Vice-President.

How are programs permitted to publicize their accreditation?
Accreditation is an accomplishment and demonstrates a program's commitment to quality. Therefore, SAF supports the efforts of accredited programs to promote their accreditation. Here are some useful tools and guidelines to help.

When will my newly accredited program be listed on the SAF website?
The list of accredited programs on the SAF website is updated each year by December 31.

Is there more detailed information available for new programs or programs new to accreditation?
SAF welcomes new programs to the accreditation process. Here, we hope you will find all the information you need to get started. If not, don't hesitate to contact us.