Leadership Areas

Approval Routes and Deadlines

All proposal types must go through the following approval steps:

Departmental PCC Committee(s)
Department Chair(s)
College PCC Committee(s)
Dean(s)
Academic Affairs (Office of Academic Planning and Programs)

The remaining steps in the review process vary by proposal type. The table below indicates the proposal route based on proposal type. In cases were a program proposal has significant resource implications, the proposal will be reviewed by the Academic Programs Advisory Committee (APAC) as part of the Academic Affairs review. Changes to undergraduate Limited Enrollment Programs will be reviewed by the Enrollment Management Team as part of the Academic Affairs review. In some cases, a curriculum change may be considered "substantial" and warrant review by the University Senate, President, University System of Maryland (USM) and Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC). Some program modifications may be handled "administratively," meaning that the Office of Academic Planning and Programs will approve a proposal, in consultation with the Senate PCC committee, without requiring a formal presentation to the Senate PCC committee.

Generally, proposals that require off-campus review by USM or MHEC require University Senate and Presidential approval. For these proposals, the Office of Academic Planning and Programs will submit the proposal to the University Senate, USM, and MHEC. When the proposal is ready to go to USM and MHEC, our office will reshape the proposal to fit the format and content elements required by MHEC.

Campus PCC committee meeting reviews require presentations, and the University Senate and Board of Regents Education Policy and Student Life Committee meetings require a departmental or unit representative to attend in order to answer any questions about the proposal. For details on proposal review time frames, see our PCC Calendar and Proposal Review Deadlines.

The PCC calendar is available as a shared Google calendar under the name "Campus PCC Calendar."

Academic Proposal Types
Proposal Type	Approval Route
Proposal Type Curriculum Change (including adding an informal specialization) New Minor New Combined Bachelor’s/Master’s Program New Dual Master’s Degree Program Changes to Departmental or College Honors Programs	Approval Route Graduate School Dean via Graduate PCC Committee (for all Graduate Programs) Senate PCC Committee Provost via Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Programs
Proposal Type New Off-Campus Offering of Existing Program New Online Offering of Existing Program	Approval Route Graduate School Dean via Graduate PCC Committee (for all Graduate Programs) Senate PCC Committee Middle States Commission on Higher Education Maryland Higher Education Commission Verification from Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Programs
Proposal Type New Professional Studies Master or Certificate Program	Approval Route Graduate School Dean via Graduate PCC Committee (for all Graduate Programs) Senate PCC Committee USM Chancellor Verification from Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Programs
Proposal Type New Certificate Program New Formal Area of Concentration Substantial Modification of a Program Renaming a Program Discontinuing a Program	Approval Route Circulation to Colleges for Comment (in some cases) Graduate School Dean via Graduate PCC Committee (for all Graduate Programs) Senate PCC Committee University Senate President USM Chancellor Maryland Higher Education Commission Verification from Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Programs
Proposal Type New Degree Program	Approval Route Circulation to Colleges for Comment Graduate School Dean via Graduate PCC Committee (for all Graduate Programs) Senate PCC Committee University Senate President USM Board of Regents via Board of Regents Education Policy & Student Life Committee Maryland Higher Education Commission Verification from Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Programs

PCC Calendar and Proposal Review Deadlines

Our office sends proposals to the Senate and Graduate PCC committees a week in advance of their meetings, and we will need a week to review proposals before we send them to the committees. Accordingly, the college should approve the proposal and send it to our office at least two weeks before the next appropriate PCC committee meeting (Senate PCC for undergraduate proposals and Graduate PCC for graduate proposals). Additional time for the Academic Affairs review will be needed if either the Academic Programs Advisory Committee or the Enrollment Management Team needs to review the proposal. Please note that proposals will not be forwarded to the appropriate PCC committee until they are deemed to be complete.

In order to manage the large volume of proposals that are forwarded to our office in the spring semester, we have set a deadline of March 3, 2025, for graduate proposals, and March 7, 2025, for undergraduate proposals. Completed proposals received by these dates will be reviewed by the appropriate PCC committees in the spring 2025 semester. Proposals received after these dates may still be reviewed during the spring semester, but spring review by the PCC committees cannot be guaranteed. Any proposals that are not reviewed in the spring will be deferred to the fall semester.

After we have reviewed the proposal and determined the appropriate PCC committee meeting for the proposal presentation, we will invite you to present the proposal at the meeting. If you have not been invited by our office (or the Graduate School for Graduate PCC meetings) you should assume that your proposal will not be on the upcoming meeting agenda. Please check CIM or contact our office for the status of a current proposal. Information on finding proposals in CIM is available on our CIM help page.