Lumen is the gateway for faculty, staff, and governance bodies to propose, update, track and/or approve academic and curricular information at UW-Madison. As a large and complex organization, it is imperative the campus community rely on one source of truth for course and curricular information.

Single Source of Truth

The Lumen/Guide complies with accreditation requirements, promotes data integrity and efficiency, provides students with consistent and easy-to-access information, and aligns with institutional priorities. For these reasons, the Lumen/Guide is the single source of truth, and the Lumen suite of tools is the official repository for all course and program information.

• All course changes, including course proposals and course deactivations, must be made through Lumen Course Proposals and, if approved, will appear in the Guide for the effective term of the proposal. All course proposals must be effective for a future term, while all discontinuations become effective in the current term.
• All curricular changes must be made through Lumen Program Proposals and/or Structure Proposals and, if approved, will appear in the Guide for the term listed in the administrative section of the proposal in accordance with the publication deadlines. All curricular changes must be effective for a future term; no changes will be retroactive. Non-governed content is to be updated annually, as necessary. See Knowledge Base for more information on Updating Principles by Tab, for the publication deadlines, and for more information on procedures.

Academic structure revisions can only be made with the approval of governance process and, when required, the approval of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), and/or State Legislature approval.

Accreditation Requirements

In alignment with the Higher Learning Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation, the Guide clearly and completely ensures all academic programs and curricular paths therein are:

1. Approved by the appropriate level of formal governance (e.g., department, school/college, university, etc.); and
2. Recognized as fulfilling current degree/major/certificate requirement(s) for any student pursuing a degree/major/cert based on date of declaration or matriculation in that program; and
3. Actively offered and available for enrollment by UW-Madison students seeking credit.

Expiration for Proposals

It is imperative the information in Lumen be up to date. Once a course or program proposal is started, it must be submitted to workflow within 6 months (180 days). Once a proposal is in workflow it must be completed within 1 year (365 days). Any proposal that fails to meet these deadlines will be removed (shredded) from the proposal system. It is the responsibility of the submitter to ensure the proposal moves through the approval process in a timely manner.

Lumen

Principles/Rules for Course Inclusion in the Guide

Higher Learning Commission Criteria for Accreditation

In 2013, a Single Source Task Force (Single Source Force) was chartered by Provost Paul DeLuca Jr. "[t]o recommend a coordinated process for creating and managing a usable and accessible curricular and academic policy repository that will be rendered to create a student facing undergraduate catalog. The recommendations will be designed with student needs in mind first, yet also serve advisors and other users."