Program Name Change Guidance

Program leadership will send a communication out to students continuing in the program after the effective date informing them of the newly created program name and providing specific instructions on how to move to the new program name, if desired. No communication should go out to students until after the new code has been created in LionPATH.

Any student who wants to change must submit a change of major application no later than the semester prior to graduation. Students are not required to change to the new program name and may keep the previous name.

For students who want to change, program staff will need to:

1. process the Change of Major applications in accordance with standard processes
2. update the student record: SARI, advisor, and program-specific milestones (GES will update Graduate School-controlled milestones)
3. alert Graduate Enrollment Services of any master's thesis submission under the previous program name.

The program must maintain the existing curriculum, handbook, etc. for the most recently admitted cohort through the last individual’s conferral or eight years after the last cohort of newly admitted students.

If after a student stops-out for a time period longer than the program wants to maintain the items listed above, the student could be required to complete a change of major application at that time. Please consult with GES leadership if this situation arises.

Programs should notify in-progress applicants of the new program name. This provides applicants the information prior to fee payment and final submission. Applicants will need to update their program selection to the new program name/code prior to submitting the application.

Graduate Enterprise Technology Services can assist programs by providing a list of in-progress applicant email addresses.

Application fee refunds are not intended or recommended for this population.

Old Code

1. Prevent applications from future semesters as soon as the program change proposal is approved and/or code is ready.
2. Programs should use the "Other Display Settings" in GRADS to enter a "Message to Display When Major is Selected". This message will be displayed to applicants who attempt to start an application to the old program. Message can include the name of the new program and provide further instructions.

New Code

Set up GRADS and GPMS for the new code as quickly as possible so applicants can apply to the new program. Including but not limited to the following:

GRADS

• Program-specific question(s)
• Document upload prompts
• Semester settings
• Requesting and approving access
• Fee waiver set up
• Program labels
• Interview Scheduler questions and evaluations
• GRADS Role Assignment – Users will need to make an Identity IQ (IIQ) request in order to access the new programs.

GPMS

• Role assignment
• Graduate Faculty assignments
• Website update

Program leadership notifies students continuing in the program from the effective date forward of the upcoming change. No action needs to be taken by currently enrolled students.

Students will see this change in various systems.

• Official transcript will display the new program name as of the effective date. After the effective date of the program name change, there is no flexibility to display the former name on a case-by-case basis.
• LionPATH adviser assignments, enrollments, student milestones, and course catalogs remain the same.
• Doctoral committees and thesis/dissertations entries remain unchanged.
• Minors, options or dual-titles associated with an individual student will remain on the student’s record with no action being required by the student and/or program.

Student diplomas as of the effective semester will show the new program name. No alternatives exist for diploma wording.

For submitted applications where the Admit Semester is after the effective date of change:

The semester the name change becomes effective the applicant’s record will change to the new program name.

The program will need to reach out to this population to find out if they continue to be interested in the program with the new name.

All applicants with an application that is in a pending review (ex: AP_APPL_MI), offer (ex: AP_APPL_POFF or AP_APPL_POFA), or beyond the program offer stage (ex: AP_ADMT_PEND or AC-MATR-AUTO) will need to be contacted.

Applicants who withdrew their application (Ex: CN-WADM-BDEC), were deemed ineligible (Ex: CN-WADM-INEL) or were reviewed and not extended a program offer (Ex: CN-DENY-PREF) do not need to be contacted.

Any applicant that is no longer interested in pursuing enrollment due to the name change should have their application fee refunded by the graduate program.

For in-progress applications:

There is currently no notification to applicants when they log into the application of the change. Programs will need to communicate directly with this population.