A "USER'S MANUAL" FOR THE COURSES OF STUDY COMMITTEE

These instructions are an outline of the things a Department Chair needs to know to put courses, changes, or programs through the Courses of Study Committee. This sheet and the accompanying samples of the forms should be given to your Department Administrator or Secretary. The instructions should be consulted and the forms photocopied whenever they are needed. When you are planning to present something to the Committee, it is a good idea to phone or e-mail the current Chair of the Committee to check on deadlines. If you don't know the name of the current Committee Chair, ask Sallie Kasper in the Dean's Office. The Committee usually meets two or, if necessary, three times each semester.

I. What you should put through the Committee:

The Committee considers the following: all new courses; changes in the name, number, or credits of a course; requests for the interdisciplinary designation for specific courses; new programs; new majors; and new interdisciplinary minors (a minor that is simply a miniature version of an existing major need not be put through the Committee). You must consult the Dean before submitting a proposal for a new program or major, or for any course that requires new resources.

II. The timetable:

It is very important to plan ahead, because of the amount of time consumed by the various steps in the process. YOU MUST HAVE A COURSE APPROVED A FULL YEAR IN ADVANCE TO HAVE IT LISTED IN THE SCHEDULE OF COURSES. The problem will become clear if you think chronologically backwards for a moment. Say that you want a new course to run in the Fall of 1999. The registration for the Fall 1999 semester will take place in March 1999, and you will submit the construction sheets for that registration in January 1999. In order for the Scheduling Office to put the course into in the computer in time for this process, it must be approved not later than the last faculty meeting of the Fall 1998 semester. If this meeting takes place in mid-November, for example, the Dean's Office must have the completed materials from the Committee two weeks in advance, at the beginning of November, in order to process and distribute them to the faculty together with the agenda. The last meeting of the Committee would then take place about two weeks before that, in mid-October, in order to leave some time to clear up problems and prepare the material for submission to the Dean.

Consequently, you must begin discussions with your faculty early in the Fall 1998 semester for any new course that should become active in Fall 1999. If you miss the deadlines and the course is approved in a Faculty meeting during the Spring 1999 semester, it will be in the computer in time for the Fall semester, but you will lose the enrollments of the initial registration period. ALWAYS THINK A YEAR AHEAD.

III. The forms and procedures:

A. For a new course, you submit two forms:

1) Form 29, which you submit in 2 copies, is for the use of the Scheduling Office. It contains the technical information needed for the Master List (names, numbers, and credits), and the signatures of the Department Chair and the Dean. You sign the form when you submit it; the Dean signs it after Faculty Approval has been voted.

2) The Request for Change in Curriculum form, which you submit in 12 copies. On this form, which is distributed to the members of the Committee and provides the basis for discussion, you describe what you want to do, how, and why. Append a proposed syllabus, or any other useful material.

If any other Department is in any way involved in your proposal, be sure to append a letter of agreement from the appropriate Chair.

Check the Master List to be sure the course number you propose is really available. The Scheduling Office keeps the Master List and can provide information or an up-to-date list, if needed. Virginia Lyle is the Scheduling Officer.

B. For a change in name, number- or credits, only the 2 copies of Form 29 are necessary. Append a letter, briefly explaining your reasons for the change. Be sure that a change in name is really that; if the course content changes, you should propose an entirely new course. For a number change, check the Master List (see above) for available numbers.

C. For a request for interdisciplinary designation, fill out the Confirmation of Interdisciplinary Designation form, and append any relevant materials, such as a syllabus.