To:	Faculty Senate
FROM:	Richard M. Kerper, Chairperson Academic Policies Committee
DATE:	April 20, 2004
RE:	Course and Program Approval Procedures

In December 2003, Faculty Senate referred the Distance Learning Approval Process to the Academic Policies Committee. Discussions of this process resulted in a reconsideration of all Course and Program Approval Procedures in the Governance Manual. This document, the result of the Committees work, contains proposed revisions to Section 3. Excluding the headings, all bold print represents additions. Strikethroughs mark the deletions.

Section 3: Undergraduate Academic Policies

Course and Program Modification Policies: Course and Program Approval Procedures

1. The addition of new courses and programs, including courses using the instructional method (e.g., lecture or recitation) labeled distance learning (DL), and the addition/deletion of designations of existing courses as Liberal Arts Core, Lab (L), Perspectives (P), C, Q, and/or Writing (W), will be proposed by one or more departments or an interdisciplinary curriculum committee and submitted to the appropriate school curriculum committee(s) for evaluation. The course or program proposer must consult departments and interdisciplinary curriculum committees of all disciplines significantly involved. The result(s) of such consultation(s) shall accompany the course proposal(s) through all stages of the approval process as outlined in the Governance Manual. Proposals receiving negative decisions shall be returned to the existing department(s) or interdisciplinary curriculum committee accompanied by a statement explaining the rejection rationale.

   Course and program development and modifications frequently have serious implications for resource allocations. To assure early administrative response to the implications of a curricular proposal, proposals submitted to the school curriculum committees for evaluation will be submitted simultaneously to the appropriate school deans. The school deans may provide an assessment of the impact on resources in writing or in person to the initiating department. Nothing in this statement shall be interpreted to mean that the deans can delay or prevent courses and programs from being considered by the appropriate departmental, school, or university committee.

   Proposals approved by the school curriculum committees shall be forwarded to the Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee. Proposals vetoed by the committee shall be returned to the initiating department(s) or interdisciplinary curriculum committee accompanied by an explanation for the veto. Should a proposal be twice vetoed by the school curriculum committee or the Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee, the initiating department(s) or interdisciplinary curriculum committee shall have the right to appeal to the Faculty Senate. Should either the school curriculum committee or the Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee fail to act upon a proposal within two months after transmittal to them, the initiating body shall have the right to appeal to the Faculty Senate whose decision shall be final.

   Any decision of the appropriate course and program review committee may be reviewed by the Faculty Senate; however, if a decision on a new course or the new designation of existing courses as Liberal Arts Core, L, Perspectives, C, Q, and/or W, is not challenged by the next Senate meeting after it has been reported, the decision will be considered approved by the Senate.

2. New courses and designations must be duly approved by the Provost before being listed among a semester's course offerings.

3. Each course description listed in the catalog shall include a statement of the number and type of class meeting hours per week/term (subdivided, if appropriate, i.e., lecture, lab, recitation, distance learning) and when the course is normally offered.

4. Content and Organization of Course Proposal
   1. A course is proposed by a department, not an individual. The perspective adopted in the proposal should reflect this ownership.

   2. A course proposal must contain the following parts in the order listed.
      1. Catalog description with prerequisites
      2. Rationale and supporting information, including present curricular need(s) to be met by the course, projected enrollment, relationship(s) between the proposed course and other courses, courses to be removed from the catalog upon approval of the proposed course, primary orientation of the course (i.e., facts, analytical methods, technical skills), and appropriateness of course title, number and credit hours.
      3. Primary course objectives and assessments clearly stated to describe an appropriate learning outcome in observable and measurable terms with assessments of student performance clearly aligned.
      4. Comprehensive outline of course content, using headings to identify primary divisions and subheadings to identify secondary divisions.
      5. Course grading policies consistent with the Governance Manual.
      6. Required course text and bibliography of supplemental books, journal articles, websites, and other media.
      7. General Education Credit (if appropriate), including a designation of the area(s) satisfied (i.e., Liberal Arts Core: Humanities and Fine Arts (G1), Science and Mathematics (G2), Social Sciences (G3), Lab, Perspectives, and Writing).
      8. Resource needs, including staff, library and equipment.

5. Experimental Courses
   1. In order to encourage experimentation and to provide timely courses in a variety of areas, departments and interdisciplinary programs are permitted to offer one experimental course per calendar year with the approval of the department or interdisciplinary curriculum committee and with the understanding that the course will not be offered again until it has been evaluated by the students and the department/interdisciplinary program and approved according to the regular procedures outlined above. All experimental courses will be designated with a number ending in "79."

   2. Experimental courses may not count in General Education nor carry W, C, Q, or Perspectives designations.

   3. As part of the course approval process, a department may request that a course originally offered on an experimental basis count retroactively as General Education and/or W, C, Q, or Perspectives.

6. Interdisciplinary Courses
   1. An interdisciplinary course reflects the knowledge, perspectives, and methodologies represented in an interdisciplinary program focusing on integrated disciplines. "Interdisciplinary courses" are defined to include the following categories: 1) courses which reflect inter- relationships among two or more disciplines, 2) Perspectives courses with interdisciplinary content, 3) courses cross-listed by two or more departments and, 4) Divisional courses as provided and defined in subsection B of Course Identification Policies.

   2. Interdisciplinary courses must be approved first by the curriculum committee of the interdisciplinary program from which it originates before moving to the curriculum committee of the school in which the program is administratively housed. Courses approved by a school curriculum committee must then be approved by the Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee and Faculty Senate respectively. In proposing interdisciplinary courses, departments of all disciplines significantly involved must be consulted by the course('s') proposer(s). The result(s) of such consultation(s) shall accompany the course proposal(s) through all stages of the approval process as outlined in the Governance Manual. [Incorporated in #1]

   6. Distance Learning (DL) Course Approval Process

   a. Faculty member interested in developing a course utilizing DL technology seeks consultation with:
   1. Two or more faculty who are on the roster of DL advisors, and
   2. The staff of the New Media Design Team (NMDT).
   b. These DL advisors and NMDT staff serve as sources of information and suggestions as well as sounding boards, during the development of the proposal. The final course proposal includes a memo from them indicating their agreement with the DL techniques to be used in the course.
   c. Faculty member designates course proposal for distance learning and provides:
   1. Method of DL (video conference, e-mail, etc).
   2. References and/or supporting justification.
   3. Samples of course materials prepared for the method proposed.
   4. DL advisor and NMDT memo, referred to in B. above.
   d. Faculty member obtains approval from the originating department and other approvals as appropriate.
   1. Once approved, the course may be presented by that DL method, regardless of the instructor involved.
   2. If faculty members in the department request that a course be presented by a different DL method (web-based instead of video conferencing, for instance), the new method of offering the course must again be approved by the DL Course Approval Process.
   3. If the DL course is a new course, it continues through the University course approval process. If it is an existing course, departmental approval is sufficient.
   
   e. Department chairperson has the responsibility to notify the Associate Provost for Academic Administration that the DL designation has been approved.

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