What we do

The Degree Progress Unit (DPU) oversees and supports the evaluation of academic progress toward degree completion for all undergraduate students. The DPU supports every undergraduate’s knowledge of what is required to complete their chosen programs and degrees in a timely fashion, and how their academic achievements at all institutions contribute to their progress. Our unit is responsible for the following:

• Development, maintenance, and support of the Degree Progress Report (DPR)
• Articulation of new and existing courses
• Building transfer articulation rules in the Student Information System (AIS or MyUCSC)
• Evaluation of transfer credit for continuing and readmitted students, also known as "add-on credit"

The DPU additionally supports staff who use these tools by providing training, individual support, and resources.

A more expansive website, with further details on the DPR, transfer credit, and the articulation process is being developed, and is anticipated to launch in Fall 2024.

Who we are

The DPU is made up of two closely related teams, the Degree Audit Team and the Transfer Credit Team. These two teams work together to ensure the systems and processes we build around transfer credit articulation and evaluation and the degree audit work hand in hand.

Director

As Director, Chris Paradies (cparadies@ucsc.edu) leads strategy, management, and operations of the DPU. He works with leadership across campus to develop and implement new strategies to make processes and policies applicable to degree progress and transfer credit simpler and easier to understand.

Degree Audit

As Degree Audit Systems Analysts, K. Sheerin Go (kgo90@ucsc.edu) and Hans von Rautenfeld (cvonraut@ucsc.edu) build and maintain the DPR. They provide general support and training to users, and partner with the systems teams in the Office of the Registrar and ITS for technical needs, system enhancements, and proposed system changes.

Transfer Credit

As the Articulation Officer, Stephanie Sawyer (sawyer@ucsc.edu) works with faculty to facilitate the articulation process at UCSC. She works closely with the Articulation Specialist in Undergraduate Admissions to perform gap analyses, and liaises with Articulation Officers across the University of California system and California Community Colleges.

As the Transfer Credit Systems Specialist, Christine Seely (chseely@ucsc.edu) works closely with the Articulation Officer to maintain transfer and exam articulation rules built in AIS. These rules allow evaluators to quickly process and post credit to student records.

As the Transfer Credit Specialist, Lisa Donato (ldonato@ucsc.edu) evaluates and posts all "add on" credit for continuing students and for students applying for readmission. She works closely with the Transfer Credit Systems Specialist to find gaps in our transfer credit rules, and with the Degree Audit Team to ensure the credit awarded is best suited for each student's degree progress.

Resources

Our office can be reached via email at degreeprogress@ucsc.edu. 

Degree Progress Report

• Overview and tutorial information on the DPR can be found on the Degree Audit Project website.
• If you've found an error in the DPR, please report it using our DPR Error Reporting Form.
• If you have additional support needs with the DPR we are available to help via email at dprhelp@ucsc.edu. We can schedule one-on-one meetings, or you can attend a weekly DPR OpenLab, Thursdays from 1:00 - 2:00pm.

Transfer Credit Evaluation and Articulation

• For questions regarding the course articulation process, contact Stephanie Sawyer at sawyer@ucsc.edu.
• For other transfer credit related questions, contact degreeprogress@ucsc.edu.