Creation of a new degree program is a multi-step process. The following generally outlines the steps in the process. Departments and schools/colleges may have their own processes in place that should be followed appropriately. The transmittal from the Dean must certify that the necessary school/college governance approvals have been obtained. This document is written as if a single department is involved in developing the new degree program. Where multiple departments/schools/colleges are involved, necessary approvals must be obtained from each of those involved entities.
It is a good idea to contact Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Dave Clark before starting the process to get clarifications on the process, which can save time and effort.
Steps 1 – 14 of the process
The time it takes to get a new program approved for implementation depends on the time spent in each step. UWM has had some recent new programs go through all of these steps in a period of seven months. However, it is safe to allocate one year for the entire process to be completed.
Note: the process for creating a new Associate degree is different. Contact Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Dave Clark for details.
- A group of faculty gets together to conceptualize a degree program.
- The idea is vetted with the appropriate academic department/non-departmentalized school faculty and Dean.
- A Notice of Intent (NOI) (DOCX) (or Request for Authorization to Plan) for the degree is created by the faculty.
- After obtaining approvals from the department faculty and the appropriate school/college faculty committees (as determined by the policies in the school/college), the Dean, if he/she approves the proposed degree, forwards the document to the Provost’s office. Send electronic version(s) in Word format to Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Dave Clark.
- The NOI should also be uploaded to CIM to facilitate review by campus entities. The Provost’s office will circulate the NOI per Academic Approval Matrix (PDF) for comments and opportunities for collaboration from other academic units on campus.
- After editing the document appropriately based on feedback, the NOI is circulated by the Provost’s office to all UW institutions for comments, objections, and opportunities for collaboration.
- The UW System Office of Academic Programs and Faculty Advancement (APFA) communicates to the Provost’s office the decision to approve or deny the request to plan the new degree program.
- If the NOI is approved, the program faculty review the Authorization Guidance and Checklist and prepare the following documents:
- Upon department/school/college approvals, the Dean (with his/her approval) forwards the document to the Provost’s office. Send electronic documents in Word/Excel format to Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Dave Clark.
- The documents should also be uploaded to CIM to facilitate campus-level review. The Provost’s office will circulate the authorization documents per Academic Approval Matrix for comments and/or approvals. The authorization documents are presented to Faculty Senate for the final governance approval.
- After governance approvals, the Provost’s office transmits the documents to Universities of Wisconsin Office of Academic Planning and Faculty Advancement for consideration by the Board of Regents (BOR) Education Committee.
- The Universities of Wisconsin Office of Academic Affairs informs UWM when the BOR approves the program.
- The UWM Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) submits a new program approval form to the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). A response may take up to two business weeks. HLC may approve immediately or, if the program is sufficiently different from current offerings, may perform a longer review of up the three months.
- After HLC transmits approval of the new program to the ALO, the ALO completes a Universities of Wisconsin implementation form. Within 10 business days, the Universities of Wisconsin will then transmit the Implementation Memo. At that point, the degree is fully authorized and formal marketing, recruiting, and admission can begin.