Creating, Reorganizing, or Changing Organizational Units

Academic Unit - Units that will offer an academic program (usually a college, department, school, or division)

Creating a new or reorganizing an existing academic unit
Changing an existing academic unit including deletions, simple mergers, transfer, and renaming

Non-Academic Unit - Units that will not offer an academic program (usually a center, institute, laboratory, or bureau)

Creating a new or reorganizing an existing non-academic unit
Changing an existing non-academic unit including deletions, simple mergers, transfer, and renaming

Special instructions for completion of Section IV-A of the Proposal for New Academic Organizational Unit or Reorganization of Existing Academic Unit(s) for non-academic programs

For new centers, institutes, laboratories, and bureaus not offering academic programs, it is the responsibility of the head of the proposed unit to describe the process and criteria by which the unit will be evaluated. The unit will be expected to provide annual reports in conformity with the University’s annual report process. The annual report will be compiled and submitted through the appropriate dean’s office to the Office of the Provost. Additionally, the proposing unit must describe the process it wishes to follow for a more comprehensive review, to take place every three to five years, and no later than every five years. When writing the proposal to create the unit, it will be the responsibility of both the proposing unit and the dean’s office to which the unit will report to articulate when the comprehensive review will take place and the evaluative criteria to be used in the comprehensive review. The proposing unit and the dean’s office will conduct the review and report to the Office of the Provost the outcomes of the review, including recommendations to continue, not continue, or refocus the unit. This change in Board policy applies to the establishment/disestablishment/name changes of units that are not offering academic courses and/or degree programs, that is, units that are established to facilitate research and/or outreach initiatives. Creating, changing, or disestablishing an academic unit that offers academic courses and/or degree programs uses the same template form but follows a separate process and requires formal Regental approval. As broad considerations, proposals will be reviewed internally on the basis of:

• Clearly stated mission, goals, and objectives of the unit
• Demonstrable partnerships and partnership support that arise from the creation of the unit (e.g., how does formal creation of this unit directly promote the fostering of collaborative and synergistic research and outreach beyond what is already happening on campus with existing entities?)
• Alignment of the proposed unit’s purpose to the reporting unit and the University’s strategic goals
• Documented support from affiliated faculty, department heads, and deans. At the college level, alignment of the proposed unit’s goals and objectives to the college’s recruitment plan and programmatic priorities
• Clear statement of the evaluative criteria to be used in the comprehensive review (How will the proposed unit demonstrate success?)

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