Dr. Behnam Nakhai,
Academic Policies Committee Chairperson
FROM:
Don Eidam
DATE:
26 January 1996
RE:
Governance Manual: Course and Program Modification Policies
I ask you to place consideration of these policies on the Committee's
agenda. I call your attention to (1) the following extract (p. 86-87)
from the Governance Manual:
Course and Program Modification Policies
1. Minor modifications in course emphasis but sufficient to require a
change in the catalog description:
a. Requires approval of the department offering the course and the
appropriate school curriculum committee.
b. If the course if required for majors in other departments, these
departments should be consulted.
c. For courses required of all Unviersity students, or all students
pursuing a particular degree (e.g. B.S. or B.A.), approval by the Course
and Program Review Committee is also required.
2. Major modifications in course content and/or deletion by the
department of an existing course:***
a. Requires[sic] approval of the department offering the course, the
appropriate school curriculum committee and the Course and Program Review
Committee. when a course is deleted from a department's offerings or when
a label is removed from a course, the chair of the appropriate school
committee shall inform the Undergraduate Course and Program Review
committee of such action. The chair of the Undergraduate Course and
Program Review Committee will then communicate that action to Faculty
Senate.
b. If the course is required for majors in other departments, these
departments must be consulted.
c. For courses required of all University students, or all students
pursuing a particular degree, Faculty Senate approval is also required.
3. Changes in curriculum
a. Minor changes require approval of the department administering the
program as well as the appropriate school curriculum committee. Major
changes in a departmental program require approval of the Course and
Program Review Committee.
b. Other departments affected by the change should be consulted.
c. For minor changes affecting the requirements of all Unviersity
students, or all students pursuing a particular degree, Course and
Program Review Committee approval is required. Major changes also require
approval of the Faculty Senate. Questions regarding whether a change is to be regarded as major or
minor shall be referred to the provost and vice president for academic
affairs.
4. Course and programs in undergraduate, graduate, and in-service teacher
education shall be reviewed and approved by the Teacher Education Council
after approval by a school curriculum committee but before approval by
Faculty Senate.
(2) the matrix, "Summary of Procedures", following this extract in the
G.M.; and
(3) my 11/1/95 letter to the Provost (p. 3884, Senate Minutes).
After consultation with Deans' Council the Provost has elected to refer
this matter to Senate, and your Committee is the appropriate one to make
recommendations on it to Senate. Specifically, I ask you to address the
following, as well as any other points your Committee in its wisdom finds
problematical:
(i) What are the criteria for determining whether changes in curricula are
"minor" or "major"? There are in fact none stated in the above box. Is
the matrix intended to implicityly state the criteria?
(ii) Who or what committeee makes the initial determination as to whether
a change in curriculum is "minor" or "major", and at what stage in the
approval process? The bod-faced statement above implies that the Provost
has the burden of making each call, and making it in the absence of
criteria.
Disagreements with respect to (i) and (ii) have arisen as recently as
last fall.
(iii) {less of a problem} The criteria for approvals of course
modifications in 1.-2. above seem clear, but the matrix speaks of changes
"affecting" categories of students. Do not almost all course changes
potentially affect all students since most courses are open to all
qualified students?
Thanks for considering this.
***Faculty Senate last year clarified the procedure for course
renumbering thus: if the level of the course is changed (e.g., from
100-level to 200-level) then the change is major; else it is minor.