| Terminology “defining” administrative units and procedures for preparing and submitting requests to the Board of Trustees for Institutions of Higher Learning to establish new colleges, schools, departments, institutes, and centers are described below.
 Institutes and centers with Limited Scope and Outreach (hereafter referred to as LSO institutes and centers) are generally administrative entities that are narrowly focused and have just a few faculty and staff associated with them. The budgets for LSO institutes or centers are generally small, and the activities of these administrative units are often primarily within a single university. Much of the outreach from this type of center or institute might involve only the single university where the unit is housed, appropriate professional organizations, and local communities. The activities of LSO institutes or centers would generally not involve multiple state universities.
 The process for establishing institutes or centers with limited scope and outreach should be left to the discretion of the universities. However, IHL staff and the Board of Trustees should be informed about the creation or discontinuance of LSO institutes or centers through written administrative reporting.
Institutes and Centers with Extensive Scope and Outreach. Institutes and Centers with Extensive Scope and Outreach (hereafter referred to as ESO institutes and centers) could be multi-institutional, serve larger geographical regions across the state and beyond, have larger budgets, and involve more colleagues, often from several distinct academic and professional fields. Each ESO has at least a statewide mission, and they often connect to several Mississippi institutions as well as agencies outside of Mississippi.
The creation of new institutes and centers with extensive scope and outreach will require the approval of the Board of Trustees.
Departments. Departments are the primary academic, operational, and administrative organizational units of the public universities of Mississippi. Departments are organized around common and similar academic areas, and generally command notable budgets.
The creation of new departments would require approval from the Board of Trustees.
Schools. Often, schools function essentially as departments, but certain professions have historically labeled primary academic units as “schools.”
Schools might also be combinations of several distinct academic fields and organizational units. In most cases, schools are larger administrative organizations than average size departments.
The creation of new schools would require approval from the Board of Trustees.
Colleges. At most of Mississippi’s public universities, colleges are the “macro” organizational entity for collections of academic units. Colleges may contain departments and schools, as well as institutes and centers. Their budgets are generally large, and the academic head of a college is generally a dean.
The creation of new colleges would require approval from the Board of Trustees.
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