In general, the impetus for program development, alteration, or deletion starts with the relevant academic department, either on campus or in Athens, but it may also come from the dean, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the President, or other source. In any event, the department is the one which prepares the program proposal documents, unless the program is a new one unrelated to any of the then current departments of the University.
The normal path of academic approval, alteration, and deletion is from the department to the college/school/Athens campus faculty, then to the Faculty Senate, then to one of the academic policies committees, back to the Faculty Senate, and then to the Faculty Assembly. When particularly timely, well-written, and thoroughly documented proposals are prepared, the department, with the approval of the college dean, may submit the proposal directly to the Senate which, in turn, may submit it directly to the Faculty Assembly. No program, however, may be added, changed, or removed from the curriculum without the approval of the department and the concurrence of the Faculty Assembly.
After the Faculty Assembly has approved the program, alteration, or deletion on its academic merits, it goes to the Vice President for Academic Affairs who, with the advice of the Deans Council and Academic Advisory Board, must recommend it to the President for approval or disapproval on both its administrative/-financial as well as its academic merits. If the President approves, he/she submits it to the Board of Trustees for final approval.
The quality management of programs offered off-campus is the shared responsibility of academic departments and off-campus directors. On the whole, the academic departments have the primary responsibility because they are charged with the academic soundness of the program, while the off-campus directors are concerned principally with administrating the delivery of the program off campus. In fact, however, the division is not as simple as this because academic and administrative concerns often mix. Off-campus directors must be ever vigilant in managing quality.
The official description of any ULV program is the one contained in the Programs section of the current ULV Catalog. Additions, alterations, and deletions of programs take effect on the effective date of the ULV Catalog in which they first appear, September 1 of the year of publication. It is the responsibility of the person or department which proposes any additions, alterations, or deletions which are subsequently approved to communicate the official changes to the director of the ULV Catalog.
SCE is ULV's primary vehicle for delivering programs off campus. Consequently, any discussion or planning related to the delivery of programs off campus must be done in cooperation with SCE.
2). Prerequisite requirements,
3). Required (core) courses, and
4). Other requirements and standards.
c. A market assessment of the need for the program including documentation substantiating this assessment. The documentation should include such items as letters from employers, industry studies, reports in trade or academic publications, magazine and journal articles, etc. This assessment should establish the probability that the program will attract qualified and highly qualified students and that there are career advancement opportunities for graduates. SCE must be involved in this assessment.
d. A detailed budget for the program,
prepared in conjunction with SCE, outlining the estimated revenues and
expenditures for the first three years, covering all of the following:
2) Equipment specified by the faculty responsible for the program and called for by the program and course design, laid out in an itemized list, including rentals, if necessary. This may include overhead projectors, computer display devices, and student accessible computers.
3) Library purchases (including back issues of professional journals). Library support for the program should include a percent of revenue (minimum 2%) committed to building the collection pertaining to the program and providing access to the collection for students and faculty.
4) Facilities rental.
5) Recruitment.
6) All other items needed to run
the program.
f. A marketing plan for the program, along with a cost breakdown for the plan. This plan, prepared in conjunction with SCE, must include strategies and materials for promoting the appropriate image of the program as agreed to by the academic department as well as for recruitment of students.
g. Comparative studies of the same program at a minimum of two other institutions. What other institutions offer the program or one similar to it? How many of these are in direct competition with ULV? How does the proposed program differ from programs offered elsewhere? How successful have the other programs been? How will the proposed program compete? What distinguishing features attractive to students does it possess? How can we favorably position ourselves to compete with institutions with whom we wish to be compared?
h. Letters of support and commitment from a program advisory council, employers of prospective students and graduates of the program, potential donors, industrialists, etc. who can be called upon to help the program with money, advice, marketing, and other means of support.
3. Once the new program has been fully approved, its personnel, equipment, courses, and other elements must be budgeted.
4. All WASC, Veterans Administration, State Approving Agency, and other reporting requirements and waiting periods must be met. The Vice President for Academic Affairs will determine whether the addition must be reported as a "substantive change" to WASC; the Registrar will decide whether State Approving Agency requirements have been met.
5. After the budget needs, reporting requirements, and waiting periods have been met, the program can be included in the ULV Catalog, effective the following September 1. The first students can be enrolled and the first courses scheduled the fall semester in which the first catalog containing the program appears.
2. Minor changes, such as the revision of a course description, need only the approval of the on-campus department and academic dean. Minor changes to programs offered only in Athens may be made by the Athens department with notification to the on-campus department and QM.
3. Major changes, such as the addition or deletion of courses, the addition of prerequisites, alterations of admissions requirements, etc., may also need the approval of the Graduate and/or Undergraduate Academic Policies Committee, the Faculty Assembly, and/or Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Faculty Senate, will decide whether the matter needs the approval of these committees and the Assembly, and the Vice President will decide whether the President needs to approve. After the changes have been approved by the on-campus department and the college/school, they should be sent to the Faculty Senate, to determine if other approvals are needed. Whether their approval is needed or not, changes should be reported to UGAP and/or GAP and to the Faculty Assembly.
4. All WASC, Veterans Administration, State Approving Agency, and other reporting requirements and waiting periods must be met. The Vice President for Academic Affairs will determine whether the change must be reported to WASC; the Registrar will decide whether State Approving Agency requirements have been met.
5. Once changes have been approved and reports (if necessary) have been made, the changes become effective with the effective date (September 1) of the first catalog in which they appear.
2. The deletion of a program must be approved by the on-campus department and college which offers the program, the appropriate academic policies committee, the Faculty Assembly, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the President, and the Board of Trustees. Programs only offered in Athens may be deleted by the Athens department with the concurrence of the associate dean, but the on-campus department, appropriate dean(s), and QM must be notified.
3. After a program has been officially deleted, no new students may be matriculated into it. However, students already in the program must be given an adequate opportunity to complete the program, so courses required by the program usually will remain in the catalog and in schedules for several terms after the program has been deleted. At the very least, students must be contacted by letter explaining that the program is going to be deleted and listing their options and a timetable for completion. It is the responsibility of the department which offered the program to see that students matriculated into the program are given time and assistance to complete, as well as to see that all courses used only in the deleted program are inactivated when the time limit for completion is over.
4. The Registrar will inform the State Approving Agency of the change, and, if necessary, the the Vice President for Academic Affairs will inform WASC.
When programs offered at an administrative center are to be offered at additional sites administrated by the center, the full approval process required to add programs to administrative centers is not necessary because it was previously completed when the program was originally added to the center. The academic department is kept informed of pending sites.
2. The requester must first prepare a proposal which includes the information outlined in point 1 of the Procedures for Additions of New Programs section above. Proposals for adding programs which are already successfully offered at other administrative centers would probably be shorter than proposals for programs offered away from the home campus for the first time. In every case, however, all the points (program description, course descriptions, market assessment, budget, résumés, marketing plan, letters of support, and comparative studies) need to be covered in the proposal.
3. The first approval on proposals for adding programs at Athens must come from the Vice President for Academic Affairs; the first approval for adding programs at other off campus locations must come from the Dean of SCE; the first approval for proposals by on-campus faculty or departments must come from the dean of the college of which the faculty/department is part.
4. Proposals from off-campus directors and the associate dean at Athens would then go for approval to the on-campus department responsible for the program and then for approval to the dean of the department's college.
5. If approved by the academic department, dean, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the proposed addition of existing off-campus programs to existing approved administrative centers must be communicated for informational purposes to the Faculty Assembly.
6. Once a program has been approved for addition to an existing administrative center (or an existing off-campus program has been proposed for an existing approved administrative center), it can be offered there as soon as all WASC, Veterans Administration, State Approving Agency, and other reporting requirements and waiting periods have been met. It is not necessary for the addition to appear in the University catalog first. The Vice President for Academic Affairs will determine whether the addition must be reported as a "substantive change" to WASC; the Registrar will decide whether State Approving Agency requirements have been met.
2. Once the director and SCE Dean have jointly decided to delete the program from the site or the director, SCE Dean, and department/program chair have jointly agreed to delete the program from an administrative center (or the associate dean has decided to delete the program with the vice president’s concurrence), the director/associate dean needs to prepare a plan by which all current students in the program are given an opportunity to complete the program. Once the plan is complete, the director/associate dean must communicate the deletion decision and completion plan to the on-campus department, the appropriate academic policies committee(s), the Registrar, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs. If the program is listed in the ULV Catalog as being offered at the administrative center, the director also must inform the Director of the Catalog to delete this listing.
3. The Registrar will inform the State Approving Agency of the change, and, if necessary, the Vice President will inform WASC.
Since the responsibilities of the associate dean and the regular contracted faculty at La Verne College of Athens are similar to the on-campus academic departments but different in some respects, a separate section on Athens campus responsibilities is listed.
1. Responsibilities of the Off-Campus Directors (administrative):
b. Recruit qualified faculty.
c. Suggest new and/or modified programs appropriate for off-campus.
d. Market approved programs off campus.
e. Identify sites, secure facilities, and assure that textbooks, library resources, computer and laboratory facilities, and other needed materials are available.
f. Provide academic advising.
g. Register students, collect money, arrange financial aid, etc.
h. Schedule classes for approved programs in approved sequences and modes sufficiently in advance so that students and faculty can make plans and the two-year course sequencing plan can be maintained.
i. Conclude teaching agreements with approved faculty, pay them, monitor them through end-of-course surveys and classroom visits, and provide them with logistical support.
k. Maintain the budgets and staffs necessary for the smooth running of the off-campus programs.
l. See that instructor approvals, course syllabi, course examinations, and other documents described in this manual get to academic departments at the times specified.
b. Approve qualified faculty to teach specific courses, recommend qualified faculty as appropriate, and maintain departmental files on these faculty and the courses they are approved to teach.
c. Prepare detailed descriptions of the academic organization of programs, including complete outlines for all courses in the programs.
d. Provide approved sequences and modes for scheduling courses in approved programs.
e. Provide guidance in calculating and meeting off-campus program needs for textbooks, library resources, computer and laboratory facilities, and other needed materials.
f. Provide on-going assistance and guidance to off-campus part-time faculty to assure that off-campus programs are providing what they should academically.
g. Monitor approved faculty through collegial reviews and review of course examinations and student end-of-course surveys.
h. Assist in part-time faculty development through such means as workshops and seminars.
i. Help supervise and deliver field work courses.
j. Approve new and/or modified programs appropriate for off-campus.
k. Provide assistance and guidance in the setting up of new programs.
l. Assist in the establishment of new sites and clusters by reviewing the academic resources and potential faculty in the region and by visiting the sites/clusters before or during the first term to introduce the program and explain its goals.
m. Review and approve course syllabi and lists of part-time faculty on a regular basis.
n. Review term schedules on a regular basis.
o. Monitor academic advising, especially for majors and minors.
p. Review course examinations and, where necessary, make recommendations for improvement.
2). QM: All materials described in the QMS Manual as being on file in QM, especially those concerning faculty, courses, and programs.
3). Registrar: official records of admissions, grades, courses completed, and programs completed.
4). Accounting: all required financial records.
5). President: reports on the development of the the Athens Campus.
6). Library: reports on the development of
the Athens library and support needed from the Wilson Library.
2). Approve qualified faculty to teach specific courses and maintain departmental files on these faculty and the courses they are approved to teach.
3). Prepare detailed descriptions of the academic organization of programs offered only at Athens, including complete outlines for all courses in the programs.
4). Provide approved sequences and modes for scheduling courses in approved programs offered only at Athens.
5). Monitor approved faculty through collegial reviews and review of course examinations and student end-of-course surveys.
6). Provide part-time faculty development through such means as workshops and seminars.
7). Communicate with on-campus departments on a regular basis to discuss programs, courses, and student progress.
SCE administrators, like other administrators at the University, are encouraged to teach part-time, if they have the appropriate credentials. This helps them keep current in the fields of their programs and brings them into more contact with on-campus faculty.
The Office of Quality Management provides an official, documented avenue of contact between academic departments and off-campus programs, but the many routine undocumented contacts which exist between on-campus and off-campus are at least as important, if not more so. The Offices of the SCE Associate Dean, Assistant Dean, and Director of Academic and Student Services all provide especially important links between off-campus centers/campus/programs and on-campus departments and committees.
E-mail, chat, video, and other electronic links have joined telephone and fax communications to further cement the University's academic community together. ULV strongly supports these developments and expects virtual meetings which include all full- and part-time faculty in a department or program to become standard.
2. The deans (and the associate dean at Athens) and Vice President for Academic Affairs are collectively responsible for seeing that sufficient Faculty Liaisons, and Department Associates are appointed to provide direct academic support for all off-campus centers and programs.
3. Faculty Liaisons and Department Associates should develop close working relationships with the center/campus/program director and faculty of the center/campus/program of their appointment.
4. Academic departments should welcome off-campus program directors and faculty to their meetings, especially those dealing with issues directly affecting off-campus programs, such as curriculum building, schedule planning, etc.
5. Off-campus directors should sit on committees and task forces when asked, and seek to acquaint on-campus faculty with off-campus needs as well as to acquaint themselves with on-campus concerns.
6. Off-campus program directors are expected to provide any and all information requested by the academic department/program chairs and departments about their programs.
7. Academic department/program chairs are expected to visit off-campus classrooms and sites on a regular, on-going basis to assure that off-campus programs are being correctly delivered. In doing this they may enlist the assistance of Faculty Liaisons, and Department Associates.
2. It is the responsibility of each dean to see that program reviews are begun and completed on schedule. It is the responsibility of the Dean of SCE to see that off-campus program directors cooperate with all scheduled program reviews.
3. Program reviews, which generally take a full academic year to complete, are fully described in the "Program Review and Planning Process" document (Appendix C). They examine courses, staffing, administration, budgets, equipment, facilities, library resources, and all other aspects of the program as it is run on campus and off campus.
2. Program chairs review student evaluations and collegial reviews each term and report to the department and dean as appropriate.
3. Once a year program chairs review
feedback from culminating activities, student evaluations, collegial reviews,
off-campus directors, faculty specialists, site reviews, and other data
to evaluate the state of the program. Program chairs are expected to report
their findings to their department and involved off-campus directors.