There are only Consent Agenda items and one approval item for the University Academic Planning Council in February 2026. In lieu of conducting the scheduled meeting, committee members are being asked to consider the items based on the provided written material with links to the Lumen proposal, and then vote via a Qualtrics survey. Votes are due on/by Thursday, 19 February 2026, 5pm.
Questions can be directed to Karen Mittelstadt; Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research; mittelstadt@wisc.edu
CONSENT AGENDA
1. Minutes of the January 2026 meeting
Summary of Consent Agenda Items 2-7: These items are related to the combining of the Departments of Food Science and Nutritional Sciences into the new Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences. Instead of merging one department with another, these two departments decided to create a new department; move all related programs, subjects, people, etc.; and then eliminate the two departments. The new department was approved by UAPC in December 2025, to be effective Summer 2026. This month’s actions move the academic programs and curricular subject listings into the new Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences and then eliminate the two former departments.
2. Change the academic/administrative home of a curricular subject listing, Food Science (FOOD SCI 390), from the Department of Food Science to the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, effective Summer 2027. Action previously approved by the University Curriculum Committee, 23 January 2026.
3. Change the academic/administrative home of a curricular subject listing, Nutritional Sciences (NUTR SCI 694), from the Department of Nutritional Sciences to the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, effective Summer 2027. Action previously approved by the University Curriculum Committee, 23 January 2026.
4. Change the academic/administrative home of a set of academic programs, from the Department of Food Science to the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, effective Fall 2026. Action pending approval by the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee (GFEC), 13 February 2026.
5. Change the academic/administrative home of a set of academic programs, from the Department of Nutritional Sciences to the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, effective Fall 2026. Action pending approval by GFEC, 13 February 2026.
- BS-Nutritional Sciences
- BS-Nutritional Sciences: Nutrition and Dietetics
- MS-Clinical Nutrition
- MS-Nutrition and Metabolism
- PhD-Nutrition and Metabolism
- Capstone Certificate in Clinical Nutrition
6. Eliminate an academic department, Department of Food Science, effective Summer 2027.
7. Eliminate an academic department, Department of Nutritional Sciences, effective Summer 2027.
Summary of Consent Agenda Items 8-9: These agenda items follow recent actions associated with the merger of the Departments of Agronomy and Horticulture into the new Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences. All courses in these subject listings have either been moved or discontinued, thus the subjects are now being eliminated.
8. Discontinue a curricular subject listing, Agronomy (AGRONOMY 132), Department of Agronomy, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, effective Summer 2027. Action previously approved by the University Curriculum Committee, 23 January 2026.
9. Discontinue a curricular subject listing, Horticulture (HORT 476), Department of Horticulture, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, effective Summer 2027. Action previously approved by the University Curriculum Committee, 23 January 2026.
Summary of Consent Agenda Item 10: Institutional knowledge suggests the Center for Patient Partnerships was moved from the Law School to the UW Extension in May 2022, but that change was never approved through formal governance channels. That history aside, the center would now like to move into the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) as the center is aligned with the college’s focus on global health and the biological sciences. The Law School Academic Planning Council (APC) approved the change in November 2025, and the CALS APC approved in January 2026.
10. Change the administrative home of a center/institute, Center for Patient Partnerships, from the Law School to the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, effective Summer 2026.
APPROVAL ITEM
Summary of Approval Item 11: The proposed name change seeks to ensure the program’s name accurately reflects the current field of study and the overall program requirements.
11. Rename a named option, BS-Biological Systems Engineering, from Opt: Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering to Opt: Ecological and Environmental Engineering, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, effective Fall 2026.