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About the Guide

About the Administrative Guide

The Administrative Guide is a reference manual of Stanford University's non-research guidelines. Updates that affect policy content are made regularly as needed. Housekeeping updates are typically corrections to URLs, department names, typographical errors or other minor changes that do not affect policy content and are made immediately upon request of the policy owner/designee. Emergency updates may also be requested by policy owners/designees.

Maintaining the guide

University Human Resources is responsible for maintaining the Administrative Guide. The Administrative Guide Editor is located at:

505 Broadway, 5th Floor, Mail Code 8443
Redwood City, CA 94063


ID Mail Code: 8443

guide-editor@lists.stanford.edu

Admin Guide archives 

The University has archived past Administrative Guide Memos. To access the archive, visit the Stanford Libraries digital archive to view scanned digital files or to request an in-person viewing of the documents. 

The Admin Guide approval process

The University officer primarily responsible for a specific policy area formally approves Administrative Guide Memos relating to that area and brings any policy changes to the editor’s attention. The officer who approves a policy is listed on the applicable Guide Memo. When the concerns of more than one administrative office overlap in an Administrative Guide Memo, the officer approving the Memo is responsible for identifying the overlap to the Editor and for obtaining agreement on proposed changes from the other office(s). A university-wide liaison group reviews new policies prior to their publication. 

The Admin Guide updating process

  • After changes are submitted according to the Change Request Guidelines, the Editor finalizes the revision.
  • Once updates are made, an email notification is sent to the guide-update@lists.stanford.edu email distribution list.
  • For housekeeping or emergency updates, the Editor reviews the changes and has the discretion to make immediate updates depending on the type of change needed.

What's New summarizes new information and calls attention to all changes.

To receive notices of Administrative Guide updates, subscribe to the email distribution list. Visit the Administrative Guide email subscription page in Mailman to subscribe yourself to the list:  mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/guide-update.