Unified Catalog Overview

The Unified Catalog Initiative seeks to remove barriers and increase opportunities for students, faculty, and staff by expanding access to courses and schedules offered across our universities while ensuring that we indicate how— and which— courses align with a student’s academic program. This is true for students taking a single course at one university to fill an elective or gap in their program at their home university, and for students enrolled in a collaboratively delivered multi-university course or program.

Specific goals include:

  1. Making links to the Schedules of Classes of all of our universities and the University of Maine School of Law visible and searchable in a single place within a student’s MaineStreet portal for all students at all of our universities and the Law School.
  2. Making links to the Academic Catalogs of all of our universities and the University of Maine School of Law available to all students in a single place within a student’s MaineStreet portal
  3. Working with faculty, registrars, financial aid directors, professional advisors and others to align technical and procedural elements of academic policy and practice (where appropriate) to eliminate obstacles and foster conditions for success for students, faculty, and staff
  4. Supporting the development and delivery of high-quality multi-university academic programs, collaborative courses, and related academic pathways and partnerships
  5. Improving transfer, retention, time-to-degree, and related student success indicators through achievement of the goals outlined above.

Unified Catalog Guiding Principles

Consistent with our Guiding Principles for Unified Accreditation, the Unified Catalog initiative is committed to the following:

Principle One

Transparent and inclusive communication and practices. Through this website and through direct communication with the University of Maine System (UMS) Faculty Governance Council, university faculty senates and assemblies, the UMS Presidents Council, UMS Chief Academic Officers Council, and others, the project lead and Project Team will share timely, accurate information and updates with the UMS community.

Principle Two

Regular engagement with key constituencies, particularly faculty. The project lead interacts regularly with faculty, administrators, and professional staff— including the registrars, financial aid directors and professional advisors— across UMS through the Chancellor’s campus visits, faculty senate and assembly meetings, small group and individual meetings, and periodic updates with the UMS Faculty Governance Council. In addition, Project Team members are encouraged to report back to relevant constituencies on their campuses, and our presidents, Law School dean, vice chancellors, and provosts receive regular status reports in multiple contexts.

Unified Catalog Outcomes

At the good suggestion of faculty, our statement of principles also addresses three outcomes we will not be pursuing through the Unified Catalog work:

  1. We will not merge our respective university and the University of Maine School of Law academic catalogs. The Unified Catalog initiative will not eventuate in a common or single catalog. University and Law catalogs will remain distinct.
  2. We will not pursue the mass movement or migration of students from one of our universities to another UMS university or universities. The Unified Catalog initiative seeks to increase access to programs and courses for all students at all of our universities and the Law School, but is not a mechanism for or precursor to a structured shifting of student populations from one university to another.
  3. This initiative will not move forward on its objectives without the active participation and guidance of our faculty; and, faculty authority in curricular matters will be honored in all respects. The expertise and insights of our university and the University of Maine School of Law faculty are critical to the success of the Unified Catalog initiative, and in this work we will engage with our faculty accordingly.