Most Graduate School programs are associated with a specific campus – currently either Twin Cities or Duluth – with respect to their administration and curriculum delivery.  However, two extant programs (Toxicology and Water Resources Science) are designated “All-University programs.”  It is possible that in the future additional such programs may be proposed, especially since they would have the advantage of sharing operational expenses over a wider base than is true for most other programs.  In anticipation of this, it is appropriate that the principles that governed the establishment of the two current all-university programs be summarized and codified so as to form some operating principles.

Operational Guidelines for the Establishment and Delivery of All-University¹ Graduate Programs

1. Program need is demonstrable on both campuses.  (For a definition of need, please refer to the Graduate School document “Developing New Academic Programs and Formal Tracks under the Aegis of the Graduate School” [http://www.grad.umn.edu/faculty-staff/governance/policies/new_programs.html] and the University document “Review of Proposals for New, Changed, and Discontinued Academic Programs” [http://academic.umn.edu/provost/reviews/apr/index.html].)
2. Broad consultation and support from both faculty and administrators on both campuses must be present at all stages of program development, from the initial planning of the program through proposal development and program implementation.
3. Intellectual resources must be well represented on both campuses.
4. Each campus must contribute substantially to the program in terms of faculty, courses, facilities, etc.   (The human and financial resources necessary to offer the program must be present on both campuses.  Appropriate administrative officers must affirm either that such resources exist and will be committed to the program, or that they are willing and able to make such resources available for program delivery.)
5. The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) and the program’s administrative home could be located on either campus.
6. An Associate DGS must be named who would be located on the campus not represented by the DGS.
7. Administration of program responsibilities such as the recruitment and admission of students, evaluation of student progress, student funding, etc. should be shared among stakeholders (i.e., there should be a single graduate studies committee with broad representation; no single contributing unit or program should dominate). 
8. Core courses are equally available in the Twin Cities or at Duluth, and some core courses should originate from each campus.
9. Students must include toward their degrees coursework that originates on each campus.
10. The student’s adviser could be from either campus.
11. Examination committees should include members from both campuses.
12. Special arrangements exist for creating faculty and student community between the two campuses.
13. Program faculty are viewed as members of a single, all-University graduate program.
14. Funding opportunities for students exist on both campuses, and/or portable funding opportunities are available.
15. There is adequate staff support to administer the program.
16. The admission application process may be completed on either campus; however, data entry occurs on the Twin Cities campus for students located at Duluth.
17. All-University graduate programs will have a unique course designator for program core courses, and the tuition revenue from core course registrations will flow to the administrative unit of the DGS and Associate DGS, according to institutional policy governing tuition attribution.
18. In some cases, a trial period with a cooperative program (similar to the current Twin Cities/Duluth cooperative programs—e.g., Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics) will precede the development of a proposal for an all-University graduate program.

¹ In addition to the above considerations, all-University programs are subject to the general guidelines for academic program development as stipulated in the document, “Developing New Academic Programs and Formal Tracks under the Aegis of the Graduate School” (http://www.grad.umn.edu/faculty-staff/governance/policies/new_programs.html).

(Approved by the Graduate School Executive Committee, 11/23/04.)