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Program Proposal: Four-Year Plans

Overview and Guidance

As part of the university’s concerted effort to help all students progress toward a timely degree, sample four-year plans are required for all undergraduate degree programs featured in Guide. Programs have discretion to structure the four-year plans as appropriate to the program of study, but following is some general guidance for consideration:

• The main goal for the four-year plan is to help students visualize the years to come and understand what courses and/or other requirements they need to graduate on-time.

• The plan should include all required courses in a preferred sequence that considers prerequisite courses, course load, etc.

• Only include courses in the plan that are regularly scheduled/offered.

• Avoid including parenthetical/explanatory information after a course that is subject to change and/or redundant. For example, do not add “(satisfies Comm-A)” after a course since the Comm-A designation is subject to change and also because that course attribute is noted in the course bubble (which is automatically updated if/when the general education designation changes).

• The plan should include each of the five General Education Requirements: Communication-A, Communication-B, Ethnic Studies, Quantitative Reasoning A, and Quantitative Reasoning B.

  • In terms of where to place the various GERs in the four-year plan, please note the General Education Requirement Policy states the following:

    • Communication-A: Students are expected to satisfy this requirement by the end of their first year of undergraduate study.

    • Ethnic Studies: Students are expected to complete this requirement within the first 60 credits of undergraduate study.

    • Quantitative Reasoning A/B: Students should complete Part A of the requirement by the end of their first year and must complete Part A before they enroll in Part B.

Creating the Four-Year Plan in Lumen

To add a four-year plan, navigate to Lumen Programs either through the Lumen widget in MyUW or through this url. You will need to authenticate to enter into the system. If you need access, fill out this form. Search for the program you need to edit either by SIS code or Title. Note: Asterisks are your friend and will pull anything before and after ex: "*Art*" will pull Art History, Art Education, Business: Arts Administration, etc.

Note: Four-Year Plans are the most complicated part of the software and are not easy to bulk change them.

1. Select the “Insert/Edit Formatted Table.”

1. Select “Plan of Study Grid” from the drop down menu.  Click “OK.”

1. Pick the “Year” and “Term.” A single four year plan can be done without navigating out of this table. Simply select a new term for Spring or Summer. NOTE: You will toggle through the year and term for the entire four-year plan. The plan will calculate the credits automatically. Consider the longevity of the terminology used as this cannot be changed easily. If one would like to change using 'fall' instead of 'semester', the four-year plan needs to be rebuilt completely.

1. Either select the school/college and department from the dropdown and then use the arrows to move items to your list, or use the “Quick Add” to populate the recommended courses.

1. Click “OK” and “OK” to save changes.

2. End result: