Development Process for a New Degree or Major at IUPUI

1. Proposals for degrees or major usually are initiated by faculty in an academic unit. The first step in the process is for the dean of the academic unit to notify the IUPUI Dean of the Faculties of the intention to proceed with development of a proposal for a new degree or major.
2. Proposals shall be completed following the checklist.
3. When deemed appropriate by the proposing department and the Dean of the Faculties, development of a degree or major should be coordinated with deans of affected schools, including coordination with deans of system-wide or core schools.
4. Prior to sending the proposal to the Dean of Faculties, the department must submit one copy of the program proposal to the University Budget Office (UBO), using the standard reporting format for financial and enrollment data. The UBO works with the academic unit in developing consistent approaches to estimating cost and identifying income sources for the program budget.
5. Review by the Graduate School is required for all graduate certificate and degree programs represented by disciplines within the Graduate School.  Professional degrees (e.g., nursing, social work, etc.) do not require Graduate School approval.
6. After the proposal has been approved by the appropriate faculty and deans within the academic unit, a copy should be sent to the IUPUI Dean of the Faculties with a cover letter requesting review and approval.
7. The Dean of the Faculties Office will forward the proposal for an undergraduate degree/major to the Academic Policies and Procedures Committee (APPC) for review and discussion. At the discretion of the Chair of APPC, a subcommittee may be appointed to review the proposed major prior to presentation to the full committee.  APPC shall review the proposal for any overlap with other campus programs.
   
   Proposals should be submitted three weeks prior to scheduled APPC meetings to allow committee members sufficient time for review and consideration. APPC typically meets the first Friday of the month from September-May. 
   
   Following review by APPC, the proposal will be forwarded to the Undergraduate Curriculum Advisory Committee (UCAC).    UCAC will review the proposal for academic integrity and conformity with the Principles of Undergraduate Learning.
   
   Graduate degrees will be forwarded to the Graduate Affairs Committee.
8. The chairs of APPC, UCAC, or Graduate Affairs may ask the originating unit to present the proposal at the next regularly scheduled meetings of their committees. 
9. Following review by APPC and UCAC or the Graduate Affairs Committee, the proposal will be forwarded to the Dean of the Faculties for approval.
10. If approved by the Dean of the Faculties, the proposal is forwarded to the Academic Leadership Council for approval (if an IU degree). For Purdue degrees, the proposal is forwarded to the Associate Provost at Purdue-West Lafayette.
11. Following University-level approval, the Dean of the Faculties will send notification of approval to the dean of the originating unit, Office of Communications and Marketing, the IUPUI Registrar, and the Director of Admissions where the major will be coded for inclusion in the master inventory.
12. The academic unit may submit any requests for new courses to be part of the major after the approval of the major is received from the Dean of the Faculties.
13. The IUPUI Dean of the Faculties office, in concert with ALC, APPC, UCAC, Graduate Affairs, and the Registrar, will regularly review this process for evaluation of results, value to the institution and compliance with institutional academic policies and procedures.

The Development Process can also be viewed as a flow chart.

04/16/2009