The SDC community at any time may propose a new initiative (such as a new course, symposium, conference, fundraising activity, equipment purchase, etc.). Such proposals may be extraordinarily beneficial to the school and students, and it is a testament to the energy and activity of SDC faculty and staff that such initiatives regularly come forth.
However, to enact a proposal often requires an extensive outlay of time, energy, and money for all involved—including, if not especially, on the SDC staff. To reduce the constraints on staff time and to ensure that proposals are handled fairly, the SDC has adopted the following process for handling new proposals. This process must be followed for any member of the SDC community, including the director.
Process for proposing new initiatives
Place your proposal in the form of a memorandum, addressed to the SDC Leadership Team (LT). Be sure that your proposal involves either the entire school or more than one program. If your proposal is program specific, please follow this same process but direct the proposal to the program head of the program in question. If necessary, the program head may bring the proposal to the LT.
Keep in mind that the expertise for carrying out your proposal may lie with you, or with a committee—and not with the LT. The more information you are able to provide to the LT, or the more tasks you are willing to investigate (e.g. SDC policies, WSU policies, federal regulations), the better. It is expected that you will have done the work ahead of time to investigate your proposal. Do not expect the LT to do this work for you. Include the following in the memorandum:
Rationale: Explain the value of the proposal to the school and/or its programs or administrative structure. If there is an urgency to your proposal, please explain. Can the school survive without your proposal? What are the drawbacks to the school not moving forward with your proposal?
Budget: If there are costs incurred with your proposal, please include a sample budget. This budget need not be exact, but should include product names/suppliers/stores. You need not concern yourself with the source of funds comes from, but it is worth being mindful that there are very limited state dollars from which to work. If your project is approved but there is no money for it, do you have a fundraising plan? Are there grant opportunities for your request?
Schedule: Please provide a projected schedule, work plan, or timeline for your project. Provided your project is approved, when would you expect to deliver the event, or carry out the course?
People: Please provide a list of people (or single person) who will be responsible for carrying out the work of each phase of the project (if it is a phased project based upon a lengthy schedule).
Challenges: Please do your best to think through potential challenges to your project. Are you requesting things that will require the assistance of Facilities Services? Will there be required maintenance and upkeep? Who will handle these tasks?
Making changes to policies
Major changes or new policies will also follow the process in 3.2, but should be presented (or sent electronically) to the entire faculty and staff, as well, for approval (after LT approval). The SDC Director is ultimately responsible for sending the new or revised policy to the faculty and staff on behalf of the LT and the creator(s) of the policy. However, following SDC Director and LT approval, the SDC Director may request that the creator(s) of the policy should send out.
Faculty and staff shall have a minimum two weeks to review any major new policy with comments taken under advisement by the LT. The LT is under no obligation to adopt suggestions from the faculty, staff, or students, but should consider those suggestions seriously with respect to equitability, collaboration, and budget. The director is ultimately responsible for communicating back to the requestor(s) what was/was not adopted, and why, as well as communicating the final decision to the faculty and staff. As with sending out the initial request, however, the director may request that the requestor(s) send out the final decision. That final decision should attempt to summarize some of the principal feedback/concerns that may have arisen in the comment period (and how it was addressed).