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West Virginia University Office of the Provost

Program Discontinuance Process

Colleges and program leaders are encouraged to refer to the following guidelines when a program is discontinued in their units.

Fall Process

For program decisions that are made during the fall semester. Steps should begin immediately.

  1. Dean’s Office contacts Office of Admissions (Graduate or Undergraduate) to have program removed from the application.
  2. Dean’s Office submits program deactivation in CIM.
    • This includes completion of an appropriate teach-out plan.
    • Program changes may also be submitted in CIM if there is necessary curriculum change contingent upon faculty impacted by program discontinuance.
    • Programs complete full CIM workflow before going to Board of Governors for final approval.
  3. Teach-out process begins in the next academic year with no new admitted students.
    • For undergraduate programs, students with 60 or more completed credits are typically taught out. For students with less than 60 completed credits, programs should coordinate with their dean’s office and the Provost’s Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.
  4. Students are informed of decision to discontinue the program and how they will be impacted.
    • Students develop individual completion plans.
  5. Program is removed from college website at the start of the next academic year. Until that time, programs may choose to add a note indicating the program will be closed for admissions with an effective date at the top of the webpage.
  6. Program is removed from the Catalog at the start of the next academic year.

Spring/Summer Process

For program decisions that are made during the spring semester or summer. Steps should begin immediately.

  1. Dean’s Office submits program deactivation in CIM.
    • This includes completion of an appropriate teach-out plan.
    • Program changes may also be submitted in CIM if there is necessary curriculum change contingent upon faculty impacted by program discontinuance.
    • Programs complete full CIM workflow before going to Board of Governors for final approval.
  2. At the start of the fall term, Dean’s Office contacts Office of Admissions (Graduate or Undergraduate) to have program removed from the application.
  3. At the start of the fall term,
    • For graduate programs, teach-out process begins with the newly admitted students entering as the last program cohort.
    • For undergraduate programs, students with 60 or more completed credits are typically taught out. For students with less than 60 completed credits, programs should coordinate with their dean’s office and the Provost’s Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.
  4. Students are informed of decision to discontinue the program and how they will be impacted.
    • Students develop individual completion plans.
  5. At the start of the fall term, program is removed from college website. Until that time, programs may choose to add a note indicating the program will be closed for admissions with an effective date at the top of the webpage.
  6. At the start of the next academic year (the second fall semester after the decision is originally made), the program is removed from the Catalog.

Guidance for Submitting an Inactivation in CIM

For programs discontinued by the Board of Governors in September 2023, submit a program “Inactivation” in CIM by October 31, 2023. For programs that are being discontinued and the home unit is also being dissolved, the corresponding “Inactivation” should be submitted by the dean’s office. There are four components to the “Inactivation” form:

  1. Rationale for deactivation: All programs should use the following language for this field: “This major was discontinued a result of the Board of Governors program review process conducted in summer 2023 and voted on by the Board of Governors at their September 15, 2023, meeting.”
  2. The plan for notifying and reassigning positions and workload of faculty assigned to the program: All programs should use the following language for this field: “Faculty in this program were notified on August 11, 2023, of the Provost Office’s final program recommendations, including faculty reductions, and again on September 15 of the Board of Governor’s vote on those recommendations and associated faculty reductions. Individual faculty and staff who will be impacted by the reduction-in-force or non-renewal process will be notified by the week of October 16.”
  3. Describe the plan for the equitable treatment of currently enrolled students; this information may be provided by attachment:
  • All doctoral programs should indicate what changes will be made to their non-research course requirements and a general timeline for students to complete those courses and other major program milestones/requirements. Programs should indicate how many faculty members will need to be retained to teach these courses and oversee the other program milestones and requirements.
  • All master’s programs should indicate how all course requirements will be taught out by Spring 2025 and how many faculty members will need to be retained to teach those courses.
  • All undergraduate programs should indicate how all major requirements will be taught out by Spring 2025 and how many faculty members will need to be retained to teach those courses.
  • Describe the plan for the prompt notification of students:
    • All graduate programs should use the following language for this field: “Students in this program were notified of the program’s discontinuance after the Board of Governor’s vote on September 15, 2023, by the Office of Graduate Education and Life.”
    • All undergraduate programs should use the following language for this field: “Students in this program were notified of the program’s discontinuance after the Board of Governor’s vote on September 15, 2023, by the Director of University Advising in the Office of the Provost.”
    • In addition, programs may reference any specific communication to their students.