The instructions below explain how to successfully submit a prospectus request form to notify the University of your intention to develop a program proposal for a new, revised or shared program, or a proposal to discontinue or close a 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. 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. Instructions for how to complete a program proposal can be found in the Program Management User Guide section.
Go to the CourseLeaf CIM Prospectus Management dashboard at: https://psu-next.courseleaf.com/prospectusadmin/.
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 Prospectus Management dashboard.
Once logged in, you will see the CourseLeaf CIM Prospectus Management dashboard. Click the Propose New Prospectus button to open a new request form to propose a new prospectus.
The prospectus request form will open in a new browser window.
The CIM prospectus request form is a large form with several fields, which are described below. Before starting on a new prospectus request form, please read the following tips and guidelines to help you successfully navigate form features and requirements.
The CIM prospectus request 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 "Undergraduate" for the Academic Level, a new section for Campuses Delivered will appear further down in the form. This section will appear as Locations Offered with different choices when "Graduate" is selected as academic level.
Fields that are required are outlined in red. You cannot start workflow (i.e., begin the review and approval process) on your request until all required fields have been completed. You can, however, save changes to your incomplete request 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.
You can save your changes to the request form at any time by clicking the Save Changes button at the bottom of your screen. This will save all changes made but will not submit the request to the approval workflow process. Saving changes allows you to come back to your request and finish editing at a later date.
Clicking the Cancel button will close the request form without saving any changes made.
Once your request is finished and ready to begin the review process, click the Start Workflow button to submit the request to the approval workflow process.
Many of the CourseLeaf CIM prospectus request 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.
There are four general categories of prospectuses. Submitting the correct prospectus type is important to ensure there are no delays in your request moving through the approval process.
From the dropdown menu, select the appropriate degree level of the new prospectus request (e.g., Undergraduate, Graduate).
Enter the name or user ID of the person responsible for developing the prospectus. This person will serve as the primary faculty point of contact for the request 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.
If other faculty members participated in the development of this prospectus request, select Yes.
If you select Yes, an additional Development Faculty Member(s) form field will appear for you to enter the name or user ID of the appropriate faculty member(s) who also participated in the development of this prospectus.
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.
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.
From the dropdown menu, select Closure of major, minor, or certificate as the type of prospectus being submitted.
From the dropdown menu, select the type of program the prospectus request is seeking to close.
Enter the URL of the University Bulletins page for the undergraduate program the prospectus is requesting to close. Undergraduate program pages can be found in the Undergraduate Bulletin program filter.
Enter the name of the program that is being requested to close.
From the dropdown menu, select the college or school with authority for the program (i.e., the program originator). The College/School selected here will determine your choices for which Unit has responsibility for the program.
From the dropdown menu, select the unit with responsibility for the program. The available Units are those that exist within the College/School you selected in the question above.
From the dropdown menu, select the semester in which you would like the program discontinuation to take effect.
Please note, the official effective semester for the program discontinuation 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. At that time, if the college prefers to implement the changes at a later time, the Associate Dean of the college may change the effective semester to a later date.
Enter a brief explanation of the reason for discontinuing the program from the University.
If the program is accredited, select Yes.
If you select Yes, one additional form field will appear for you to provide more information.
Enter the name of the accreditor along with details about potential impacts of discontinuing this program.
Enter an explanation of the potential impact the program discontinuation will have on other Penn State campuses and colleges.
From the dropdown menu, select a college who you will be in consultation with through the program proposal process.
To add another college, click the Green Plus Sign Button in the form field header to add a new row. Select a college from the dropdown menu.
To delete a row, click the Red X Button to the right of the row.
To reorder the listed colleges, click the Green Arrow Up and Arrow Down Buttons to the right of the rows. Click the Up Arrow Button to move a row up. Click the Down Arrow Button to move a row down.
Enter additional details about consultation plans and which specific campuses and/or academic departments within the selected college(s) will be included in the consultation process.
If you are requesting an enrollment hold be placed on the program while the program discontinuation proposal undergoes the review and approval process, select Yes.
If you select Yes, one additional form field will appear for you to provide more information.
Enter an explanation of why an enrollment hold is necessary for the program.
Once you have completed the prospectus request form, click the green Start Workflow Button at the bottom of your screen to begin the review process. The prospectus will be sent to the first step in the approved workflow.
Note: You cannot start workflow on your prospectus request until all required fields have been completed.
The automated approval process in CIM is called the workflow. Once you click the green Start Workflow Button, your prospectus request will begin this approval process.
The required workflow steps are the same for each academic college and include review by the academic department head, college associate dean, Office of Undergraduate Education, and members of the Administrative Council on Undergraduate Education (ACUE). As reviewers in each step approve the prospectus request it will move to the next step of the workflow. As the request moves to the next workflow step, the appropriate user(s) will be notified via an automated email that the new prospectus request is ready to be reviewed, edited, approved, or rejected.
You can log in to the CourseLeaf CIM Prospectus Management dashboard at any time to see where your request is in the workflow process. Once you have located your prospectus in the dashboard, the preview will include the full list of workflow steps the prospectus must complete. The current workflow step for the prospectus 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 prospectus. You will have the opportunity to address these questions and/or provide additional information when you complete the subsequent program proposal form. You cannot directly edit your prospectus once it has been submitted to the workflow process.
A reviewer may choose to rollback the prospectus to a previous step in the workflow. In this case, the prospectus will need to repeat the workflow steps from the point the prospectus was rolled back to.
More information about prospectus request review can be found in the Workflow Management User Guide section.
Following discussion of the prospectus by ACUE members, an ACUE committee will draft recommendations to the submitting college. The proposers may then respond to these suggestions when developing the full program proposal.
Once the prospectus request has completed the approval process, the proposer will receive an automated email message notifying you of the prospectus approval.
Upon receipt of the notification of approval, a full program proposal may now be submitted. Instructions for how to complete a program proposal can be found in the Program Management User Guide section.
