Penn State University is rolling out a new integrated management system called LionPATH. This new product will eventually replace eLion, and eLion’s back-end known as the Integrated Student Information System. Students will begin using LionPATH for all registration and financial functions in Fall 2016. Admissions for Fall 2016 and beyond are already being managed by LionPATH.

There will be much documentation about LionPATH distributed to students. Anyone curious for a sneak peek can visit the Project LionPATH Online Library for tutorials and help documentation.

We ask that students review the messages and publications that are shared with them as we approach the full LionPATH rollout date. As the LDT program learns details that are of particular interest to our students, we will share them, starting with the items below:

Campus Codes: Some campus codes are changing. Most notably, World Campus will use the code WC in LionPATH.

Terms: The use of the word “semester” will be deprecated across the university. LionPATH will refer to divisions of the academic year as terms (Spring Term, Fall Term, Summer I Term, Summer II Term, etc.).

Term Codes: LionPATH will use a four-digit code number to identify terms. The Project LionPATH team reports that:

The LionPATH team decided that the first number would represent the century, the second and third numbers would designate the year, and the last number would be equal to the month each term starts. As an example, summer 2014 used to be 201314SU in eLion/ISIS, but it will now be coded in LionPATH as 2145 (21^st century = 2, 2014 = 14, May = 5). Other terms will be coded as follows:

• Fall 2014 will now be 2148 (21^st century = 2, 2014 = 14, August = 8).
• Spring 2015 is now 2151 (21^st century = 2, 2015 = 15, January = 1).

Prerequisite Checking: Sometime after the rollout of LionPATH, but not too far into the future, LionPATH will enforce course prerequisites at the time of (attempted) registration. The LDT M.Ed. Program has worked to improve our students’ experience by eliminating most of the prerequisites for our courses. However, sometime in late 2016 to mid-2017, LionPATH will enforce prerequisites for all courses across the university, graduate and undergraduate. This policy might affect some LDT students, particularly those students who aim to add an elective course outside of the LDT program. We will continue to update our students about this matter.