Program Handbook Review Guidelines

Overview

The College of Nursing has an official Program Handbook for each of the following five academic degree programs: BSN; MS-MEPN; RN-MS; DNP; PhD. (Additional handbooks, such as the Clinical Faculty Handbook and the DNP Clinical Handbook, are not included in the process below but also may be updated annually.) The process outlined below provides basic guidelines for the annual review and update of these Handbooks.

Steps in the Process

1. The Program Director initiates the Program Handbook review process in consideration of their final month for achieving CISC-Subcommittee approval as follows: March (MS-MEPN and RN-MS); May (BSN, DNP, PhD). In this way, the Program Handbook can be approved two months prior to entry of the new cohort of students, to allow time for LHTI to upload the document to the website.
2. Concurrently, the OSAA Director oversees review of the respective Program Handbook for any updates on university-wide policies or other relevant items.
3. The Program Director with input from the Director of OSAA produces a near-final draft of the updated Program Handbook.
4. The Program Director brings the penultimate draft of the Handbook to the respective CISC Subcommittee for discussion and eventual vote before the end of Spring semester (in the particular month designated for that academic program) on behalf of faculty to approve the updated Program Handbook.
5. Only if needed, the near-final draft of the handbook is submitted by the OSAA Director to the Office of General Counsel and Graduate College for review.
6. Once all approvals are received, the Program Director sends the finished document to LHTI to be uploaded on the CON website.
7. The Program Director, CISC-Subcommittee, and OSAA review the CON website to assure accessibility of the updated Program Handbook.