Rackham Guidelines & Procedures

Course Numbering

(See Course Approval Form: Catalog Number)

400 level courses are assumed to be primarily for undergraduates. If the course material is described as sufficiently advanced, graduate credit may be granted upon approval of the Graduate School. Requests for graduate credit for 400 level courses must provide information to verify that the course material is at the graduate level for all students, or that graduate students are required to do additional work beyond the level required of undergraduates in the course. 

Rackham guidelines New and Revised Programs 2015 PDF

Establishment of a Division

Based on D. Assanis, Automotive Engineering Program, “Rationale and Proposed Guidelines for Creating a Division in InterPro,” November 29, 2000.

The following guidelines are proposed when demonstrating a need for the creation of an academic Division:

  1. “Successful incubation of the interdisciplinary academic Program under one of the existing Divisions that would serve as the academic home for an interim period of at least three years.”
  2. “Successful development of a number of Program-specific courses that would not have been created if the proposed Division did not exist. Offering of such courses for at least two times under experimental numbers in one of the existing Divisions with satisfactory enrollment.”
  3. (Successful) “achievement of appropriate metrics consistent with Program goals and expectations, such as reaching a steady-state enrollment of x fulltime and y part-time students, graduation of z students, etc.”
  4. Establishment of a curriculum committee for that division. The form and organization of the committee should be consistent with the norm of the other divisions in the CoE.
  5. “Demonstrated identity of the Program, as evidenced by external recognition of Program need and objectives.”
  6. “Careful assessment of the pros and cons of the creation of a prospective Division by the Program’s faculty council or the Program’s Curriculum Committee, and approval of the proposal by at least 2/3 of the faculty council members.
  7. “Approval of the proposal to create a Division by the CoE Curriculum Committee.” (The CoE Curriculum Committee will evaluate the curricular aspects of the proposal.)
  8. “Approval of the proposal by the CoE Faculty Assembly.”