Processes

Faculty Senate reviews proposals regarding:

• Courses
• Policies
• Programs

Curriculum Proposal Deadlines

All proposals will be added to the agenda through Curriculog. Please see the Curriculum Proposal Deadlines (pdf) for suggested date ranges to launch proposals in Curriculog.

IMPORTANT! 

The Curriculog feature to launch proposals will close for the 2024-2025 academic year on Monday, April 7, 2025, at 5 p.m.

All proposals launched prior to April 7 should reach the Faculty Senate Committee step before their last meeting of academic year (UPC on Monday April 14 and GPAC on Friday April 25), which will allow all proposals to be considered by Faculty Senate during their last meeting of the academic year on Monday, May 5.

Please keep in mind that the Department of Higher Education requires a 60-day waiting period after DHE approval before UML can announce new programs. Also keep in mind that Admissions updates require significant lead time; proposals that reach Admissions by June 1, 2025 will impact program offerings available in Spring 2026 and Fall 2026.

The Curriculog feature to launch proposals will open again for the 2025-2026 academic year on Friday, August 1, 2025.

Life of a Proposal

Proposals are created in Curriculog and progress through the approval process within the department, college, college curriculum committee, and college dean before moving on to Faculty Senate. After approval from Faculty Senate, proposals are (if applicable) sent to the governing authorities, and then processed through "UMass Lowell (UML) System Update" steps to update SiS, the catalog, degree pathways, advisement reports, department and college catalog landing pages, admissions applications, and department and program marketing web pages.

Approval Workflow

1. Originator
2. Department Chair or Program Coordinator
3. College Curriculum Committee
4. College Dean or Designee
5. Undergraduate Policy Committee (UPC) or Graduate Policy and Affairs Committee (GPAC)
6. Faculty Senate
7. Provost and Chancellor
8. President's Office (UMPO)
9. Department of Higher Education (DHE)
10. UML System Updates

In Curriculog, use the "Workflow Status" tab to view which steps have been approved and on which step the proposal is 'working'.

Templates (For Originators of Proposals):

Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) Codes

• Existing CIP Code Lookup (Excel)

Curriculum Outline "Form A"

• DHE Curriculum Outline (Form A1) - For Undergraduate Programs (doc)
• DHE Curriculum Outline (Form A2) - For Graduate Programs (doc)
• DHE Curriculum Outline (Form A) - For Minors (doc)
• DHE Curriculum Outline (Form A) - For Certificates (doc)
• DHE Curriculum Outline (Form A) - For Graduate Certificates (doc)

Degree Pathway

• Degree Pathway grid (doc)

DHE Name Change Plus Forms - "Change Name of Program & Elevate Subplan to Plan"

• Name Change Plus Form - Graduation Data (doc)
• Name Change Plus Form - Enrollment History (doc)
• Name Change Plus Form - Alumni Outcomes (doc)

DHE Phase I Forms

• DHE Phase I Letter of Intent (LOI) template (doc). The Phase I LOI template includes Form A thru Form D. You may submit the LOI as one document, or if you prefer, the individual forms are available below.
• DHE Form A1 - LOI Curriculum Outline (Undergraduate) (doc)
• DHE Form A2 - LOI Curriculum Outline (Graduate) (doc)
• DHE Form B - LOI Goals and Objectives (doc)
• DHE Form C - LOI Enrollment Projections (doc)
• DHE Form D - LOI Budget (doc)

DHE External Reviewer Forms

• DHE Evaluator Resume template (doc)

DHE Phase II Forms

• DHE Phase II template (doc). The Phase II template includes Form A thru Form F. You may submit Phase II as one document, or if you prefer, the individual forms are above and below. 
• DHE Form E - Program Faculty (doc)
• DHE Form F1 - External Reviewer (Undergraduate) (doc)
• DHE Form F2 - External Reviewer (Graduate) (doc)

Reviewers (Department & College)

As a proposal progresses through Curriculog approval steps reviewers at the Originator, Department Chair/Program Coordinator, College Curriculum Committee, and College Dean level will "approve" or "reject" the proposal. Only approved proposals will reach the Committees of the Faculty Senate.

Your Tasks

There are two main ways you can know if you have proposals to review:

• In Curriculog, go to the "My Tasks" tab. You will see any proposals that are currently on your step.
• In your inbox, you will see an email from Curriculog with a link to each proposal on which you have a task.

To Review a Proposal

Note the title of the proposal, and the type of approval process.

Proposals are split in half. On the left you will find the body of the proposal which contains collapsible sections containing the majority of the content of the proposal. On the right you will find sections available by small tabs.

• Use the "Workflow Status" tab to view when the proposal was launched, and by whom. You will be able to see the names and dates of any prior approvals on the proposal, and the steps remaining. You will be able to edit the proposal only when it is on your step. All changes will include the name of the person making the change, and the date on which the change was made.
• View the body of the proposal by section. Click the small toggle icon on each section header to 'close' each section after you review it.
• Use the "Discussion" tab to view any comments added by any of the approvers and to select "User Tracking".
• Use the "Files" tab to retrieve any documents that have been uploaded.
• Use the "Decisions" tab to enter your decision and a comment.

An approval indicates that the reviewer has reviewed the proposal for:

• Content accuracy & clarity
• Consistency with department, college, and university policies
• Impact on other departments
• Resource availability (if applicable)

If changes are needed, the reviewer may edit the proposal directly before approving, or use the decisions tab to reject the proposal back to the Originator for editing.

If the proposal is ready to move forward, the reviewer will use the decisions tab to approve it.

You may want to add a proposal to your "Watch List" to make it easy to find later.

You may also search "All Proposals" to find any proposal at any time.

Please reach out to Kerry Patenaude by email at kerry_patenaude@uml.edu if you have any questions!

Suggestion Box

Please submit ideas and topics discussed during and after Faculty Senate roundtable discussions in our anonymous Faculty Senate suggestion box.