Protocol for Approval of University Policies for the University of Iowa Policy Manual

The University of Iowa Policy Manual (PM) contains policies and procedures governing the internal operations of the University. It is available for review at the following website: opsmanual.uiowa.edu.  Policies proposed for incorporation into the Policy Manual shall be approved under the following protocol.

In addition, overarching PM policies and procedures may be supplemented by departmental procedures that describe policy implementation practices. These supplemental procedures may be referenced in, and/or linked from, the relevant PM section, as appropriate. When changes are made to referenced and/or linked procedural materials, notice and copies of the revised procedures shall be provided in electronic form to the PM editor. These cross-references and links will be added to the PM as deemed appropriate.

New Policies

1. New University of Iowa policies will be added to the PM upon the approval of the President, who may seek advice from the Vice Presidents Group. Once approved, the policy will be sent by the President, or designee, together with a letter approving the policy, to the Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations, who will assure its inclusion in the Policy Manual.

2. New policies developed and approved by the Board of Regents will be added to the PM if reviewed and approved as required in paragraph 1 above. In addition, new University of Iowa policies required by and developed in response to new Regent policies will be submitted for prior approval to the Regents if deemed appropriate by the President.

Revised Policies

1. University-initiated revisions affecting the substance of existing policies which were initially adopted with the review and approval of the Board of Regents must be approved by the President (who may seek advice from the Vice Presidents Group). They will be added to the PM when the policy is sent by the President, or designee, together with a letter approving the policy, to the Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations, who will assure its inclusion in the Policy Manual.

2. All other revisions affecting the substance of existing policies must be developed in consultation between the office(s) and department(s) responsible for a given policy and the PM editor, and other constituents as appropriate, prior to submission to the President for approval and inclusion in the PM, in accordance with the protocol described in paragraph 1 above.

3. Non-substantive revisions affecting form, including editorial improvements, may be made by the PM editor with the approval of the Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations.

Questions about the approval process may be directed to the Office of the Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations