Process Overview for Submitting a Proposal for a New Graduate Program

Process Overview

1. The planners prepare a draft proposal which they submit informally to the Graduate School Dean.  The Executive Committee will expect that the pertinent Department Chairs, Deans, and the Provost have been consulted during the preparation of the proposal and that questions concerning resources, including plans for acquiring the necessary resources to implement the program, have been fully discussed prior to the submission.

A template for the proposal is available for download: 

      MS-Word format  (.doc)          Adobe PDF format  (.pdf)

 The proposal should include the following elements:

• A statement of the proposed program's intellectual identity and focus.
  
• The course of study that will lead to a master's or Ph.D. degree.
  
• The contributions the proposed program will make to graduate education and research at Georgetown.
  
• The likely market for the program among prospective students. The qualifications required of successful applicants. The eventual anticipated program size. The kind of academic or professional careers which graduates of the program will likely pursue.
  
• The faculty resources required(both number and qualifications–-be specific).
  
• A plan for outcomes assessment.
• Any cooperative arrangements across departments or schools (if relevant).
  
• The relationship of the proposed program to undergraduate education.
  
• Information on competing programs, especially those in the Washington area. Estimate of the degree and basis of Georgetown's competitiveness with such programs.
  
• A Library and Technology Impact Statement (see 9. below)
  
• Laboratory or other resources that are available to support the new program, as well as any additional needs in these areas.
  
• A multi-year financial plan encompassing both personnel and student support costs.
  
• Letters of support.

2. The Dean offers suggestions, after which the planners prepare a revised draft and submit it to the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the Graduate School.

3. With the approval of the Executive Committee, the Dean appoints a subcommittee to review the proposal in detail.

4. The subcommittee works with the program planners to assess and clarify the proposal.

5. The subcommittee makes a recommendation to the full Executive Committee to approve or not approve the proposal. The Executive Committee then discusses and votes on the proposal. The proposal may be approved, not approved, or returned to the planners with a request for revisions.

6. If the Executive Committee votes to accept the proposal, the Dean forwards it to the Provost or to the Executive Vice-President of the Medical Center, as appropriate, for further financial assessment and submission to the University's Board of Directors.  If a proposal  is rejected by the ExCo the issue is either closed or the Committee may ask that the program be revised and resubmitted.

7. After the Executive Committee has approved the new program, the lead faculty member of the program planning group should complete a worksheet (download as a PDF file) of technical information about the program and submit it to the Graduate School.

8. Once approved by the Board of Directors, the program may be officially announced and recruitment may begin.

9. The following Library and Technology Impact Statement Procedure was approved by the Provost and Council of Deans on 19 September 2005:

a. When a proposal for a new degree program is being considered, the proposal committee will notify the Associate University Librarian for Collections and Technical Services Library, who will assign a bibliographer to work with the committee and will notify UIS as appropriate.

b. The bibliographer will gather information on the library's collections relevant to the new program, will assess strengths and weaknesses and make funding recommendations. The UIS contact will make a similar assessment and the Associate University Librarian will create a draft Impact Statement. The program proposal committee will review.

c. The program proposal committee, with the Associate University Librarian, will make revisions if necessary, thus allowing all involved to agree on library/technology needs to support the program.

d. Once there is agreement, the Library and Technology Impact Statement information will be added to the final proposal for submission to the Council of Deans and to the Graduate School for review.

e. The source of funding to support approved programs will be determined by the Provost.