Curriculum Committee Best Practices

SGIS By-laws Charge:

1. the review of all proposed curricular changes affecting graduates and undergraduates; 2. the status of the major and minor courses of study; 3. the priorities for curricular development at the undergraduate level; 4. review of proposals for participation in interdisciplinary ventures at the undergraduate and graduate levels; 5. policy governing graduate and undergraduate advising; 6. undergraduate assessment; 7. undergraduate recruitment; 8. review and decide grade appeals brought to it by graduate and undergraduate students; 9. other matters relevant to undergraduate and graduate education in the school.

The SGIS Curriculum Committee reviews proposals for new courses or changes to existing courses twice an academic year per the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Curriculum and Advising Committee (CAS-CAC) deadlines: October 15 for courses to be offered summer of that academic year and February 15 for courses to be offered Spring semester of the next academic year (e.g. for a course planning to be offered Spring 2022, the request is due to CAS by February 15, 2021). Changes to the major or minor are reviewed in the Fall semester by the SGIS Curriculum Committee per the deadlines from the CAS-CAC.

All proposals for new courses, changes to existing courses, or changes to the major/minor MUST go through the SGIS Curriculum Committee before being submitted to the CAS-CAC.

All proposals for new courses or changes to existing courses must be initiated by members of the SGIS faculty. Lecturers proposing new courses should partner with a faculty member to ensure course sustainability.

Please keep the following items in mind when preparing a new course proposal or making changes to an existing course:

1. At the beginning of the Fall and Spring semester, SGIS Committee unit representatives will email all faculty and full-time instructors in their respective unit with a call for changes to the curriculum. The email in the Fall semester will include changes to the major/minor.

2. Submissions for changes are due to the specific unit’s SGIS Curriculum Committee representative one month before CAS-CAC deadlines (September 15ᵗʰ; January 15ᵗʰ).

3. All course proposals, whether for new courses or changes to existing courses, must include a course syllabus. New courses require completion of the Resource Analysis CAS3 form. Requests for CAS Diversity in the US certification requires completion of the CAS4 CDR form. Cross-listing courses requires a letter from the Chair of the department/program and is only needed after the course is approved by the SGIS Curriculum Committee. ACE certification requires answers to certain questions, and requests for changes to the major or minor require the completion of form CAS1 and CAS4. CAS Forms and ACE certification questions are online.

4. In addition to the syllabus and necessary forms, please provide a brief justification for the initiated changes. This may include: the reason for the change, impact on enrollment in course and unit, broader impact on unit/school curriculum, planned frequency of the course offering, and any other pertinent information.

5. All forms must be completed by the SGIS Curriculum Committee semester deadlines.

6. Once all curriculum change requests are received by the SGIS Curriculum Committee unit representative, the representative will prepare a “summary of actions” detailing all requests and provide the forms for unit faculty to review. Unit faculty have five (5) business days after the date of the email to voice concerns or raise objections. Once that objection period has passed, the proposals will be forwarded to the full SGIS Curriculum Committee for discussion.

7. If a proposal is or is not successful (or if it is approved conditionally), it is the responsibility of the submitting unit’s SGIS Curriculum Committee representative to convey that information back to the submitter.

8. Approved course proposals should be submitted by change initiator (person who submitted the documents) to the Course Inventory Management to be routed to the CAS-CAU

9. The SGIS Curriculum Committee representative for respective unit proposing changes will submit necessary documentation to the appropriate staff in the CAS Dean’s Office.

10. The SGIS Curriculum Committee will make regular updates at the general faculty meeting regularly.

Updated
11.11.2020