L&S Annual Fall Guide Revisions

Each year, departments and programs have the opportunity to review their program Guide pages and submit updates for the next Fall semester. These edits are typically made by faculty and staff in the departments who fill out the Lumen program proposal form. The Guide serves as an official document for the major, certificate, degree, and entrance requirements and therefore needs careful maintenance and review each year. The purpose of this document is to provide a basic overview on how to edit Guide pages to reflect updates or changes to your undergraduate programs.

Guide Content: Governed verses Nongoverned Guide Content

Content in Guide is divided into governed and non-governed content.  There are separate processes to edit each type of content. 

Non-governed Guide pages: Edited via the Guide editing widget

Non-governed content pages:

  • Overview 
  • Funding
  • Professional Development
  • Contact Information Box

Authorization to edit:

Timeline for editing and publication:

Governed Guide pages: Edited via the Lumen Program Proposa

Governed content pages:

  • Admissions
  • Requirements
  • Accreditation
  • Licensure/Certification
  • Policy
  • Learning Outcomes

Authorization to edit:

  • All renewable faculty and staff can edit and submit the Lumen proposal.
  • Only authorized faculty and staff can approve proposals for the department/unit

Timeline for editing and publication:

  • The Lumen program proposal can be edited year-round but most edits are only published for Fall Guide
  • Fall Guide is published June 1. 
  • Please note that each program can only have one active/edited proposal at a time.
  • Guide is also published for spring term (midcycle) with very limited edits allowed. 

[Content placeholder inside panel Guide Content: Governed verses Nongoverned Guide Content. This content will be shown/hidden as the panel is toggled.]


Editing Governed Content

The rest of this document gives tips for editing governed content. 

Find the Program you wish to Edit 

1. Go to the Lumen program proposal widget in Lumen

  • Find your program by searching for it.
  • One tip is to use the * for a wild card search. Put asterisks around the subject to find any proposal with that subject. Example: *biology* will find every program with the term biology in it.

2. Once you find the program you wish to edit, click on it and hit Edit program in green in the upper right-hand corner.

    Guidance on Editing Key Lumen Program Proposal Fields

    After you have found the program you wish to edit, you will go through the program proposal questions and answer them.  Here are some tips for the fields:
    Proposals/Abstract Summary:
    • Brief description of the change (s).
    • Used by reviewers to get a high level overview of the edits.
    • 1-2 sentences is sufficient for minor changes such as adding a few courses to course lists.
    • Provide more information for substantial changes.

    Term:

    • The term the changes will be published in Guide.
    • Select the next Fall semester.
    • For example, if you are editing during fall 2025, the term for the proposal is Fall 2025.
    Are the proposed changes minor, such as minimal curricular changes, small Guide language edits, red-box course corrections, etc.?
    • Answer "Yes" for small edits such as adding courses to a list or small language edits.
      • Yes gives an abbreviated list of questions that need to be filled out with some fields grayed out.
      • No gives the full form with more questions that need to be answered. This is only necessary for specific and more substantive edits, such as editing program learning outcome
    Percentage of curriculum to change:
    • Most common are "No change" or "less than 25%"
    • If "Greater than 50%" is indicated in this field, there is close campus review of the proposal due to policy.
    The Lumen KB on program proposals is also available with instructions on editing fields.

    Department/Unit Approval Process

    Once the department/unit finishes filling out the program proposal, it needs to be submitted and approved using the appropriate governance process.  The goal of the College is to help departments/units successfully navigate the approval process so Guide accurately reflects what is occurring in units and students have an accurate source of information.  

    1. Submit proposal by clicking on "Save and Start workflow" at the bottom of the proposal
    2. Department/Unit approval: two steps
      • Click on "Edit"
        • Enter a note with department/unit approval process
        • Template: Approved by XXXX (person/committee, depending on the governance process) on {date, if relevant}
        • Enter name and date, Save
      • Scroll to bottom, to Approvals field
        • Enter any notes about approval here
        • Click Approve in upper right hand corner.

    College Approval Process

    • Proposal will go to the College reviewer queue; staff in academic planning and AIM will review
      • Small changes are reviewed administratively (most common)
      • Substantial changes will need to be reviewed by L&S Curriculum Committee 
      • Substantial changes to graduate programs will also be reviewed by the Graduate School 
      • For clarity, staff will check that undergraduate changes align with the L&S Lumen/Guide Policy & Style Guidelines
    • Once approved, L&S AIM will ensure DARS is updated for undergraduate programs

    Deadlines

      Deadlines for changes to be effective for Fall 2026: 

      Undergraduate program proposals: TBD, expected to be early December

      Graduate program proposals: TBD, expected to be late December for substantial changes. 

      For additional deadlines, please see L&S Deadlines for Course and Program Changes

      Resources and Who can help

        Workshop slides from Fall 2022 presentation on Updating Undergraduate Guide: LS Undergraduate Presentation

        Help with Editing:

        L&S Policy and Style Guidelines: https://kb.wisc.edu/ls/95362

        Who can help: 

        Kim Grocholski, Academic Planner (kim.grocholski@wisc.edu): Help with Lumen Programs, "governed pages," governance or workflow questions, help with graduate Guide edits for "non-governed" pages

        Meg Hamel, Academic Communications Manager (meg.hamel@wisc.edu): Help with undergraduate Guide edits for "non-governed" pages

        Wyl Schuth, Policy & Planning Analyst (wyl.schuth@wisc.edu): Questions about how requirements will be implemented in DARS and whether requirements as articulated can be easily encoded.



        Keywords:
        Lumen, program proposal, undergraduate, guide, edit, revise, governed content, LS, requirements, annual, fall, graduate, change, program
        Doc ID:
        121233
        Owned by:
        Kimberly G. in L&S KB
        Created:
        2022-09-12
        Updated:
        2025-07-02
        Sites:
        L&S KB