This page links to formal Graduate School and university-level policies related to interdisciplinary programs.
Graduate School Policy on Interdisciplinary Committee and Degree-Offering Groups
Policy 4.4 describes policy around the creation and structure of interdisciplinary committees and interdisciplinary degree-offering groups.
University of Washington Policy on Interdisciplinary Committee and Degree-Offering Groups
UW Policy Directory outlines general authority and oversight of interdisciplinary programs:
i. Executive Order I.4.
“In the operation of an interdisciplinary program, the director or chair of the participating faculty group shall report to the dean having principal administrative authority in the same manner that the director or chair of a department reports to the dean in a departmentalized school or college. The director or chair has the additional responsibility of furnishing information regarding program details to the other deans who are directly concerned with the operation of the program.”
ii. Executive Order VI.3.
“The word “department” refers to any separately organized unit within a college or school which has been established by the Board of Regents or by the President, to any department-level interdisciplinary unit which has been established by the dean of a college or school, and to any department-level interdisciplinary unit involving two or more schools or colleges which has been established by the Provost.”
iii. Executive Order 12.
“For interdisciplinary programs which involve two or more schools or colleges, the Provost shall be responsible for coordination but may delegate to one of the respective deans the principal administrative authority for supervision of the coordinated program.”
iv. Executive Order 4.3.e.
“The Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School administers the Graduate School, coordinates and administers interdisciplinary graduate committees and certain interdisciplinary centers and institutes; and, with the assistance of the Graduate School Council, oversees the review and assessment of all graduate degree programs and makes recommendations on their approval, continuation, or discontinuation to the Provost. The Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School works closely with members of the University faculty who are involved with major institutional or interdisciplinary programs; provides administrative assistance in the development of proposals for support of such programs and administrative coordination after they are established.”
v. Executive Order VII.4.
“A college, a school, or a department which has been authorized by the graduate faculty to offer a program of study leading to a graduate degree is termed ‘qualified.’ “