Academic Unit Approval

Requests for the creation, modification, or disestablishment of one or more academic units requires review and approval from multiple parties before implementation. The review process may take six months to a year to complete and takes effect on July 1st of the approved year. This is in accordance with federal and state reporting practices.

The following actions must be approved prior to implementation, marketing, publishing, or announcing:

• Creation or disestablishment of an academic unit (college, school, department, division, or another academic unit)
• Academic unit name change
• Merger of two or more academic units
• Transfer of an academic unit from one college to another
• Transfer of a Program to another Academic Unit

Creating New Academic Unit(s)

Use the New Academic Units Implementation Request to provide information regarding the new academic unit.

1. Obtain documentation indicating support for the new academic unit from Unit Heads / College Deans to use resources (i.e., courses, faculty space, etc.) that have been allocated to another unit.
2. Obtain documentation indicating support for the new academic unit from units / colleges with similar or overlapping missions / objectives as the proposed new academic unit.
3. Use the Budget Projection Instructions to fill out the Budget Projection Form.
4. Forward the draft documents to The Office of Curricular Affairs for review.
5. Obtain signatures from the following parties once CA gives the go ahead.
   (In some situations, signatures of more than one unit head and/or college dean may be required.):
   1. Unit Head / Unit Curriculum Committee
   2. College Dean / College Curriculum Committee

Disestablishing Academic Unit(s)

Send a memo addressed to The Office of Curricular Affairs, signed by the department/unit head and college dean that includes the following:

1. The complete name of the academic unit as it appears in the UAccess tables.
2. Affected programs owned by the unit and details of the teach out plan for students affected/still enrolled.
3. The geographic sites and campuses where programs belonging to the unit are offered.
4. Rationale behind disestablishing the unit.
5. How the unit’s resources will be allocated (i.e., faculty and staff positions, infrastructure, enrolled students, etc.)
6. The last term of operation/admission (taking into account admission deadlines).

Merging or Transferring Academic Unit(s)

Send a memo addressed to The Office of Curricular Affairs, signed by applicable department/unit heads and college deans including the following:

1. The unit(s) being moved.
2. The geographic site/campuses/locations where the unit(s) offers programs/has a presence.
3. Rationale for merging or transferring academic unit.
4. Communication plan for student's enrolled in programs owned by the unit - how will students be communicated with about the merger or transfer and when.

Academic Unit Name Change

Send a completed Request to Rename an Academic Unit form to The Office of Curricular Affairs, signed by the department/unit head and college dean.

1. Include the current name as it appears in UAccess Academic Org table and proposed name
2. Justification for the name change.
3. Communication plan for student's enrolled in programs owned by the unit - how will students be communicated with about the unit name change and when.

Transfer of an Academic Program From one Unit to Another

Send a memo addressed to the Office of Curricular Affairs, signed by the department/unit heads involved and college dean(s) including the following:

1. The rationale behind transferring the Program.
2. Items that will be included or are part of the transfer:
   • List of courses
   • List of prefixes
   • List of Faculty
   • Budget
3. Communication and action plan for the transfer of student enrollments.

The Office of Curricular Affairs manages the routing and review process for all committees involved. They will be the entity that communicates with committee chairs and staff to manage the review process. The Office of Curricular Affairs communicates the final results of the review and approval process with proposers.

UArizona Faculty Governance committees only meet August-April/May.

ABOR - Policy Manual

Requests can be submitted any time and will be routed in a timely fashion. Once approved the creation or applicable change will take place on July 1st of the approved year.