Academic Planning Policy- Approved May 8, 2023

UW Tacoma's Academic Planning Policy  was approved by the Executive Council (EC) of Faculty Assembly on May 8, 2023.  Goals of the Plan include:

1. Shared definition of current regional development needs and global conditions, to originate new program proposals and identify priorities for investment and implementation, based on empirical research and supported by policy process and resource allocation models.

2. A streamlined Planning Notice of Intent (PNOI or program creation template) and process flowchart and recommendations for tracking proposals.

3. An assessment of the current state of data for planning and what the future state needs to be for data in order to become information for invigorating our programs. This includes new tools to streamline data collection.

4. Shared criteria to identify and prioritize relationships between programs on campuses, with proximity to external partners to invigorate programs and support sustainability of full range of offerings.

5. Provide a unit/school level guidance to guide the program invigoration process with clear deadlines.

6. Coordinate with campus planning groups for alignment with strategic planning, student success initiative, strategic enrollment planning, and campus climate implementation, and campus-wide balance of academic disciplines and programs

Detailed information on the purpose, taskforce work, and timeline can be found in the report below.

Academic Planning Policy

Previous Academic Plan (2018-2023)

 

 

Academic Plan for 2018-2023

Past Academic Planning Policy and Process

FAQs and Lessons Learned

 After an almost two-year process, the inaugural Academic Plan at UW Tacoma was approved by the Faculty Assembly Executive Council (EC) on June 3, 2019. In alignment with UW Tacoma’s mission, vision, and strategic plan, the Academic Plan contains the Curricular Plan and Academic Support Plan for UW Tacoma beginning in 2018 and ending in 2023.

Please see below for more information.

Background and Planning Process

In summer of 2017, while planning the faculty agenda for the year, the Chair of Faculty Assembly identified academic planning as one of four priorities for the coming year. The interim leaders of Academic Affairs had also recognized the need for academic planning. The intention for an academic plan was introduced at the Faculty Assembly retreat on September 25, 2017 followed by a faculty discussion. Planning processes ensued in three stages.

  • Stage 1 of academic planning was conducted in autumn 2017, which involved an assessment of existing academic programs.
  • Stage 2 was conducted in winter and spring of 2018. This stage involved the development of action steps related to the recommendations proposed in Stage 1 to grow, maintain, redesign, or phase out current degree programs. 
  • Stage 3 emphasized curriculum planning for new undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It was conducted in spring 2018, autumn 2018 and winter 2019.

For a more detailed description of the planning process, please see page two of the Academic Plan as well as the Academic Planning Policy and Process document (approved by EC on January 28, 2019).

Faculty Assembly Involvement

Collaborative efforts between Faculty Assembly Leadership and Academic Affairs beginning in autumn 2017 (see background information above) resulted in the Academic Planning Policy and Process document (approved by EC on January 28, 2019).

Following approval of the Academic Planning Policy and Process, the first draft of the Academic Plan was presented by Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Jill Purdy, at the EC meeting on May 6, 2019. The draft plan was shared with all faculty members on May 7, 2019. Faculty Assembly Leadership and Academic Affairs solicited feedback from faculty between May 7, 2019 and May 25, 2019.

Feedback was addressed in the final draft of the Academic Plan which was approved by EC on June 3, 2019. In response to faculty feedback, the specifics of how this feedback was addressed, as well as lessons learned throughout this process, resulted in the creation of the FAQs and Lessons Learned document.

Announcing the Approved Academic Plan to Faculty

The following message announcing approval of the Academic Plan was sent by 2018-2019 Faculty Assembly Chair, Dr. Ka Yee Yeung, to UW Tacoma faculty on June 4, 2019:

Subject: Announcement: Academic Plan for 2018-23

Dear Faculty Colleagues:



I am writing to thank all of you for your participation and feedback on the inaugural Academic Plan at UW Tacoma.  The first draft of this Academic Plan for 2018-2023 was presented by Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Jill Purdy, at the Executive Council (EC) meeting on May 6, 2019.  This plan summarizes all three stages of the academic planning process and documents the outcome in each of these three stages. The draft plan was shared with all faculty members on May 7, 2019 and we solicited feedback from faculty between May 7th and May 25th.



We addressed your feedback in a revised Academic Plan document (attachment 1).  In response to your feedback, we documented the specifics of how we addressed your input and reflected on lessons learned in this process (attachment 2).  This version was approved by EC on June 3, 2019.



Thank you for your effort and patience in this process.  We look forward to start the work outlined in this plan.



Ka Yee Yeung

Chair, Faculty Assembly



Marian Harris

Vice Chair, Faculty Assembly



Lauren Montgomery

Past Chair, Faculty Assembly