Proposing A New Academic Unit

An academic unit is a college, school, academic department, or interdisciplinary academic program unit (which will offer courses and programs).

 

To propose a new academic unit, you need to prepare a proposal requesting it and providing a rationale. If any current faculty lines or academic programs will be moving into the new academic unit, you need to include that information in the proposal.

If you plan to offer new academic programs in the new academic unit, you will also have to propose each of the new programs separately through the CIM system using the New Program Proposal.

Follow the Faculty Senate submission guidelines for non-curriculum proposals. Before you submit the proposal to the Faculty Senate, you will have to submit the proposal through your school governance process, the University Accreditation office, and Graduate Council (for academic units which house graduate programs or offer graduate courses). These steps should be done sequentially. Each will provide memos documenting the review and you will attach those memos to your proposal along with the Proposal Submission Form

Graduate Council approval will be required if the new department will offer graduate level courses and/or programs, if the new department will affect graduate faculty lines, or if the new department will utilize graduate teaching assistants. ADPC (Academic Deans Policy Council) approval may be also be required, especially for a new school. This is usually determined by the Graduate School Dean, General Welfare Committee, or Provost. You may be required to revise the proposal or provide additional information or approvals at any point in the review process.

Refer the Standard Approval Process Flowchart to see which approvals are required for university governance reviews.