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School, College, and Unit Proposals

Three processes have been developed to support the creation of new schools, colleges and units, or to support their reconstitution or name change.

Preparatory Activities and Contacts

Five-Year Planning Perspectives

Required for all undergraduate and graduate programs, schools, and unit development plans.

School, College, and Unit Proposals

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Requirements:

A proposal is required when:

  • Creating a new school or college
  • Creating a new department
  • Creating a new organized research unit (ORU)
  • Creating a new multicampus research unit (MRU)
  • Reconstitutions (i.e., Transfer, consolidation, discontinuation, disestablishment, TCDD) of a unit
  • Name change of a unit

 

Considerations for Preparing the Proposal

  • Consult with Institutional Planning and Academic Senate staff.
  • New and reconstitution (i.e., TCDD) proposals for departments are reviewed and approved by the Divisional Academic Senate.
  • New schools and colleges takes at least two years to complete and require a pre-proposal and full-proposal—see resources below for additional details.
  • Review processes of reconstitutions (i.e., TCDD) of an academic unit proposals vary. Consult with Institutional Planning and Academic Senate staff.
  • Simple unit name changes are reviewed and approved by the Divisional Academic Senate.
    • If a more substantial unit changes are required as part of the name change, this change proposal is a reconstitution.
  • New and reconstitution (i.e., TCDD) proposals for ORUs are reviewed and approved by the Divisional Academic Senate and campus administration.
  • New and reconstitution (i.e., TCDD) proposals for MRUs are coordinated and prepared by the host campus. Consult with Institutional Planning and Academic Senate staff.

Pre-proposal

At least one year before submitting a full proposal, proponents of a new school or college must submit a pre-proposal first to the Divisional Senate.

The pre-proposal is separate from any documents that accompany the Five-Year Perspectives and it must contain sufficient detail to allow the Divisional and Systemwide Academic Senates to complete an initial evaluation of the proposal.

Full Proposal

If approved by the Divisional Senate, and after incorporating its comments on the pre-proposal, proponents of the new school or college may then develop their full proposal for submission to the UCI Divisional Senate.

If the Divisional Senate approves the full proposal, the Chancellor forwards it to the Provost and the Academic Council Chair for review.

Post-Proposal

If a campus proposal to establish a new school or college is approved by the University of California Board of Regents, but not established within seven years of the date of that approval, the original proposal must be resubmitted to UC Irvine’s Divisional Senate along with a post-proposal. The post-proposal addresses the changes in the budgetary environment, the academic field(s) and related curriculum, as well as the need for and fit of the proposed school or college since the submission of the original proposal.

Guidelines for New Department will be available soon.

Guidelines for New Organized Research Unit (ORU) will be available soon.

Guidelines for New Multicampus Research Unit (MRU) will be available soon.

Guidelines for Reconstitution (TCDD) will be available soon.

Simple Name Changes

Simple name change requests are submitted to the Divisional Chair by the unit’s Dean who submits a rationale and justification for approval.

If the simple name change is approved by the Divisional Senate, it is forwarded to the Academic Council Chair.

  • Process overview
  • Guidelines

If substantive programmatic/curricular changes or a substantial need for new resources are associated with the name change, the campus must follow the procedures in Reconstitutions of Academic Programs and Academic Units.

* SSGPDP: Self-Supporting Graduate Professional Degree Program
** TCDD: Transfer, Consolidation, Disestablishment, Discontinuance of a Program, Unit, or School

Contact the Institutional Planning team