The instructions below explain how to successfully complete the proposal form for a program drop. This includes majors, minors, credit certificates, and non-credit certificates. If you want to propose a new program, please follow the instructions for how to submit a proposal for a new program. If you want to edit an existing program, please follow the instructions for how to submit a proposal to change an existing program.
A prospectus is required for all undergraduate program proposals. For graduate program proposals, a prospectus is only required for new graduate programs or extending an existing graduate program to online delivery. A new prospectus proposal can be completed from the CIM Prospectus Management dashboard. Instructions on how to complete the prospectus form are found in the Prospectus Management User Guide.
The prospectus should be submitted and approved before the program proposal form is submitted to workflow for approval. However, you can begin work on the program proposal form in CIM while the prospectus is being reviewed. The work completed on the program proposal form can be saved and returned to in the CIM Program Management system.
Go to the CourseLeaf CIM Program Management dashboard at: https://psu-next.courseleaf.com/programadmin/.
Log in with your Penn State user ID and password.
A dialog box will appear requesting that you complete your login to CourseLeaf. Click the circle icon in the dialog box to proceed to the CourseLeaf CIM Program Management dashboard.
Once logged in, you will see the CourseLeaf CIM Program Management dashboard. In the Search field, enter the program code or program name of the program that you want to edit. Then click the green Search Button.
A list of matched search results will appear in the results table. Select the program that you wish to drop from the results table.
Below the results table will be a preview panel of the currently approved proposal for the program. To propose to drop the program, click the red Drop Program Button that appears in the upper right-hand corner of the preview panel.
The program proposal form will open in a new browser window.
The CIM program drop proposal form consists of several fields, which are described below. Before starting on a program drop proposal form, please read the following tips and guidelines to help you successfully navigate form features and requirements.
The CIM course proposal form is a dynamic form. The fields that appear on the form will change depending on your answers to certain questions. For example, if you select "Engineering" for the Proposer's Home College, only the units that belong in the College of Engineering will be available in the dropdown menu for the Proposer's Home Unit.
Fields that are required are outlined in red. You cannot start workflow (i.e., begin the review and approval process) on your proposal until all required fields have been completed. You can, however, save changes to your incomplete proposal and return to complete and submit the form later.
Instructions for each question appear in italics above the question heading and field. Please read these instructions carefully before entering your information into the form.
Clicking the Cancel button will close the proposal without saving any changes made. Once your proposal is finished and ready to begin the review process, click the Save and Start Workflow button to submit the proposal to the approval workflow process.
Many of the CourseLeaf CIM program drop proposal form fields are the same for both undergraduate and graduate programs. The listing below displays all form fields for undergraduate programs. Instructions on graduate-specific form fields can be found on The Graduate School website.
Enter the name or user ID of the person responsible for the program drop proposal. This person will serve as the primary faculty point of contact for the proposal throughout the review process. For Graduate level programs, this individual must be a member of the Graduate Faculty. Only one person can be designated as the Principal Faculty Member.
For best results when entering a name, type the faculty member's last name in the form field. As you begin to type, a list of suggestions from the Penn State directory will pop up, from which you can select. Once a name is selected, the person's email address will auto-populate in the Email field.
Consultation should be requested from all units with a known interest in the subject field, not simply those in the same college. Consultation also should be requested from any other programs listed in the proposal as potentially affected by the program.
To add Consultation members, enter the name or user ID of each individual to be consulted.
For best results when entering a name, type the individual's last name in the form field. As you begin to type, a list of suggestions from the Penn State directory will pop up, from which you can select.
The selected individual's name will be added. For the initial round of consultation, select Include in the Include in Consultation field for all added consultants. For additional rounds of consultation, the existing consultants can be either Included or Excluded by selecting Consultation Sent, depending on whether they need to be consulted again. Consultants being added for the first time must have Include selected.
The Consultant's Response field will appear disabled at this point since the response will be selected by the consultant upon review of the proposal.
To add another person, click the Green Plus Sign Button in the form field header to add a new row. Enter the name or user ID of that person.
To delete a row, click the Red X Button to the right of the row.
Disciplinary group lists are comprised of individuals within a specific academic discipline. When a disciplinary list is selected for consultation, all members on that list will be sent an email containing a short description of and link to the course proposal. Individuals who receive the email can: 1) forward it to others who might have an interest in the proposal; 2) comment directly in the proposal; or 3) contact the proposer and request to be added as a formal consultant.
To add a disciplinary group list, select a discipline from the dropdown menu.
To add another disciplinary list, click the Green Plus Sign Button in the form field header to add a new row. Select a discipline from the dropdown menu.
To delete a row, click the Red X Button to the right of the row.
This field will be pre-populated with the academic home college/school that was listed on the last approved proposal for this program.
This field will be pre-populated with unit with responsibility that was listed on the last approved proposal for this program.
From the dropdown menu, select the semester in which you would like the program drop to take effect. If you would like it to take effect as soon as possible, select As soon as possible from the dropdown menu.
Please note, the official effective semester for the new program will be set by the Office of the Faculty Senate once the proposal is approved. The effective semester entered will be based on the proposal's approval date.
From the dropdown menu, select the Bulletin edition in which you would like the program drop to take effect.
Please note, the effective Bulletin Edition will be set by the Office of the Faculty Senate once the proposal is approved. The Bulletin Edition entered will be based on the proposals approval date.
A prospectus is required for all undergraduate program proposals. A new prospectus proposal can be completed from the CIM Prospectus Management dashboard. Instructions on how to complete the prospectus form are found in the Prospectus Management User Guide.
The prospectus should be submitted and approved before the program drop proposal form is submitted to workflow for approval. However, you can begin work on the program proposal form in CIM while the prospectus is being reviewed. The work completed on the program proposal form can be saved and returned to in the CIM Program Management system.
From the dropdown menu, select the approved prospectus that corresponds to your program proposal.
Upload supporting documentation related to the program as needed.
To upload an attachment, click the green Attach File Button.
A File Upload window will open. In the window, navigate to the location of the document to upload on your computer, select the document and click the Open Button.
The selected document will appear in the Files to be Uploaded box.
To add additional files, repeat the Attach File process. Please note, multiple files can be added to the "Files to be Uploaded" box before saving changes.
To remove a file, click the red Remove link next to the file to be removed.
The file upload will be complete once you click the Save and Start Workflow button to submit the course drop proposal.
Enter an explanation of why the program drop is being requested.
Enter a description of the curricular implications of dropping this program.
Enter a description of the enrollment and degree conferral implications of dropping the program.
Enter a description of how faculty will be affected by dropping the program, and, if applicable, how promotion and tenure will be addressed.
Enter details about how the program discontinuation will impact delivery of other programs on campus, General Education courses, and/or students participating in a 2+2 plan.
Enter a description of the proposed timetable for completing the program drop. Include an account of how many students currently are enrolled in the program and how you plan to assist them through degree completion.
Enter a description of how program certification, licensure, etc. will be affected by the discontinuation of the program at the campus/college.
Once you have completed the program drop proposal form, click the green Save and Start Workflow Button at the bottom of your screen to begin the review process. The proposal will be sent to the first step in the approved workflow.
Note: You cannot start workflow on your proposal until all required fields have been completed.
You will be returned to the main CourseLeaf CIM Program Management dashboard, with a preview of your proposal and the workflow for the program drop proposal.
The automated approval process in CIM is called the workflow. Once you click the green Save and Start Workflow Button, your proposal will begin this approval process.
The required workflow steps are defined by each academic college. As reviewers in each step approve the proposal it will move to the next step of the workflow. As the proposal moves to the next workflow step, the appropriate user(s) will be notified via an automated email that the new program proposal is ready to be reviewed, edited, approved, or rejected.
You can log in to the CourseLeaf CIM Program Management dashboard at any time to see where your proposal is in the workflow process. Once you have located your proposal in the dashboard, the preview will include the full list of workflow steps the proposal must complete. The current workflow step for the proposal will be in bold orange text. Completed workflow steps will be in bold green text.
At any point in the approval process a reviewer might have questions about the proposal. You will have the opportunity to address these questions and/or provide additional information about your proposal at various steps throughout the workflow. You cannot directly edit your proposal until it returns to you in the workflow process. You will be notified via email when the proposal has reached the workflow step for you to review and address reviewer feedback.
A reviewer may also choose to rollback the proposal to a previous step in the workflow. In this case, the proposal will need to repeat the workflow steps from the point the proposal was rolled back to.
More information about proposal review can be found in the Workflow Management User Guide section.
Once the proposal has received final approval from the Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs after being published in the Senate Curriculum Report, the next step of the workflow goes to the Office of Undergraduate Education for review and notification of the program closure to the Board of Trustees. Once approved, the Office of Undergraduate Education will issue an authorization memo on behalf of the Executive Vice President and Provost to implement a phase out of the program.
After the final approval of Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs and authorization from the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Office of the University Registrar will enter the appropriate phase out date of the program into LionPATH Update Academics. In addition, a phase out alert will be recorded on the program degree audit.
Once the proposal has completed the approval process, the proposer will receive an automated email message notifying you of the proposal approval.
The dropped program will be removed from the University Bulletins at the time of its official effective semester. For example, if the program phase out is approved during the month of October and its official effective semester is for the following spring semester, the program will be removed from the University Bulletins at the beginning of the spring semester.
