Procedures: Departments and Department-Like Academic Units

Outlines the considerations and process/procedures associated with establishing, renaming, restructuring, or eliminating an academic department. 

Procedures

Academic departments are defined in Chapter 5 of Faculty Policies and Procedures (FPP) as consisting of a group of faculty members recognized by the faculty and chancellor, and the Board of Regents, as dealing with a common field of knowledge or as having common or closely related scholarly interests. FPP also sets out guidelines for formal departments and “other groups as equivalent to departments,” and specifies that departments and other groups equivalent to departments are governed in consultation with the University Academic Planning Council (UAPC), which is chaired by the Provost.

For step-by-step instructions on how to fill out the Lumen Structures form, see the Lumen Structures: How to Submit Department or Department-Like Unit Proposals KB.

Establishing a New Department

Given the current breadth of the university's academic enterprise, it is a relatively rare occurrence to propose a new department, though it does happen. When proposing a new department, the proposal's focus should be on detailing and establishing that the new department will have the resources and support necessary to fulfill all the expectations and requirements of a department. This includes academic programs; faculty; the capacity to carry out teaching, research, and public service; an executive committee; a chair; etc. The university does not have a template proposal for a new department, but proposers should reference to FPP Chapter 5 and address all considerations and requirements for departments. All new departments go into effect based on fiscal years, so with the summer term.

Proposals must include:

  • justification for the new department;
  • an analysis of the impact on students, faculty, and staff; and
  • any details on impacts to the budget.

Note: If the intention is to establish a new academic/curricular subject listing as part of the new department, the department must be established first and then a subsequent proposal can be submitted to establish the subject listing.

Changing an Existing Department

Common changes to a department include renaming the department or restructuring the department (e.g., moving a department from one school or college to another).

Eliminating a Department

Though also rare, departments are on occasion eliminated. The most common scenario is the elimination of a standalone department following its "merger" into a new department. Following are considerations when eliminating a department:

  • When discontinuing a department, all items housed within the department (e.g., faculty, academic programs, subject listings) must either be moved to a new academic home or discontinued. The proposal should clearly indicate the plans for all existing components of the department.
  • The University Academic Planning Council (UAPC) ultimately approves the elimination, but the proposal also gets a reading at the Faculty Senate.

Proposals must include:

  • cover the justification;
  • an analysis of the impact on students, faculty, and staff; and
  • any details on impacts to the budget. 
  • include evidence of faculty engagement in the process, ideally with 100 percent support from the faculty, and approval from the school/college Academic Planning Council and/or Dean.

Implementation: Considerations for the Office of Human Resources and Business Services

For all of the above actions related to departments, following UAPC approval and Faculty Senate consideration, the department or its parent school/college will be reminded to contact the Office of Human Resources and Business Services with information about the approved change as part of implementation. This includes the completion of the following forms:



Keywords:
department departments dept 
Doc ID:
98084
Owned by:
Karen M. in Academic Planning
Created:
2020-02-19
Updated:
2024-11-07
Sites:
Academic Planning