Academic Approvals Management
The academic affairs approval process follows a prescribed path designed to ensure that any new programs are aligned with strategic priorities of the university, support the mission of the originating academic unit and campus, are in appropriate relationship to all IU campuses, and that the necessary resources are available to sustain the program. The Office of the Assistant Vice President for University Academic Policy is responsible for administration of this process at Indiana University.
ALC Technical Committee
The Academic Leadership Council (ALC) designates the chair of its Technical Committee to manage and oversee all internal and external processes for Academic Program Approvals. The chair carries out this duty collaboratively with unit staff and a committee comprised of the University Registrar, campus representatives, University Institutional Research and Reporting, and university administration for fiscal management. The chair, through established and defined procedures, engages with all contingent approvals and processes (Graduate School, Office of Online Education, Office of Collaborative Academic Programs, Office of Overseas Study), campus academic leaders (EVCAAs or like roles), academic unit heads (deans, faculty senate chairs), and internal and external bodies to assess, ensure accuracy, and move for approval, all academic programs. The chair also serves as the staff to the ALC, state liaison to the Indiana Commission on Higher Education (ICHE), university representative to the ICHE for the Academic Program Inventory, coordinator for university engagement with the Higher Learning Commission, accreditation matters, and reciprocity agreements.
Current Chair, ALC Technical Committee: Assistant Vice President (AVP) Carolyn Gentle-Genitty
Assistant Director for Academic Policy and Programs: Jeff Weber
Contact: approval@iu.edu
PLEASE NOTE: When preparing a new proposal, please begin from the latest documentation and forms, as provided within the Document Store. This will ensure that all required information is properly included.
Process Overview
The academic program approval process is based on and built around the steps required to develop and offer a new degree program; however, there are many other types of academic changes included in this process. This is represented in tabular form in the Required Approvals Matrix.
Please note that an inividual entry into APPEAR is required for each programmatic action that must be approved. This includes multiple types of action within a program (e.g., degree + major + minor) as well as multiple change types to an individual item (e.g., name change + credit hour change). Where appropriate, the same documentation may be uploaded as the proposal information in APPEAR.
Based on university policy, some types of academic changes may not require submission through all levels or may be advanced through some levels of the approval process simply as an information item. The general sequence of the approval process is as follows:
Program approval status
For additional information on approved programs or on the status of programs in process, please see the APPEAR page.
