In May 2012 the Board of Trustees approved a new strategic plan for LMU. This plan, with its six strategic themes, laid out in broad strokes the university's priorities and plans for the next eight years. Theme six of the plan, promoting competitiveness and accountability, called for accountability and for setting high standards of operational excellence. This included developing processes and tools to ensure coordination, communication and collaboration across units and departments to minimize duplication of effort and maximize quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. A critical aspect of this was the development of clear, effective, and transparent processes for recommending and reviewing university policies.
In September 2013 the Provost formed a Policy Process Working Group (PPWG), charging it with the following:
- Review, as needed, best practices for recommending and reviewing university policies.
- Build on previous discussion at the Provost’s Planning Council to recommend appropriate structure and process for recommending and reviewing university policies.
- Draft the charge to an overarching university policy committee (and, perhaps, other policy-related committees as appropriate).
- Recommend membership of an overarching university policy committee, with membership flowing from the charge.
- Recommend a process for creating a common set of definitions and understanding of terms (for example, what is meant by “policy” in contrast to “guideline,” “practice”, etc.)
- Recommend next steps for implementing a clear, effective, and transparent policy structure.
The PPWG is now the University Policy Committee (UPC), governed by the UPC Bylaws.