Curriculum Development
Choose a topic to go directly to that section:
The Curriculum Committee primarily reviews faculty and departmental proposals for new courses and changes to majors and minors. In general, changes to the majors and minors which are substantial must be passed by the Curriculum Committee and the College Senate. Slight changes (minor changes!) to majors and minors must be passed by the Curriculum Committee and announced in the College Senate, but not necessarily passed by vote by the Senate.
New courses go to the Dean who refers them to the New Course subcommittee of the Curriculum Committee. Use the New Course Proposal form, accessed from the Registrar's online forms page. For more information, skip to the section of this webpage on New Course Proposals or you will find more information on submitting to the Curriculum Committee in the section on Changes in major or minor.Courses required by students majoring in a program in the department should be offered with a high enough frequency to be sure all students can take the course before they graduate. To estimate how many times to offer a course, divide the total number of students needing it by the number of seats times 4, i.e., if there are 96 students in your program and 24 seats available, 96/(24*4) = 1. In that case, you should offer the course at least once per year to be reasonably sure each of those 96 students gets a chance to take the course in their four years at the College. If there were only 12 seats, 96/(12*4) = 2 so the course should be offered twice per year, or each semester. If the number is higher than 2, you should offer multiple sections of the course each semester.
Courses should be scheduled so that students do not experience conflicts. If you require students to take specific courses, be sure that they are not offered at the same time.
Specific advice on setting up schedules is given elsewhere in this Chairs’ Manual in the section on “Scheduling Classes.”
1. To change the title, description, or some other attribute of a course that already exists, download the “Course Change Proposal” form from the Registrar’s website.
2. Submit the form for the Dean’s approval, but it does not need to go to the Curriculum Committee.
3. Once approved, the Dean will forward the form to the Registrar and return a copy to the department. Processing by the Registrar should be almost immediate.
Notes:
* If you are adding or changing
GenEd2 attributes, you will
need to append a syllabus for the course. The Dean’s office
will send it to
* The department should keep a copy of the form, lest it require tracking down at some later date. If you have not received confirmation (or a request for further information) after “a while,” contact the Dean’s secretary to ask what point the form is at.
New course proposals1. Download the appropriate form from the Registrar’s website; be sure to append items 1-9 on a separate sheet.
2. If you want GenEd2 attributes for the course, append a sample syllabus.
3. Three copies of the form should be
sent to the Dean, who
will then forward it to the Curriculum Committee New Course Review
Subcommittee. If
you are requesting
GenEd attributes, it will then be forwarded to
Notes:
* Faculty/chairs should verify if there is any overlap/potential impact on courses in other departments. If so, indicate you have discussed the proposal with the other chair(s) involved.
* Courses go into the College Catalog with no individual faculty member’s name attached. They can be taught be anyone. Therefore the entire department should discuss the new course before it is formally proposed to the Dean.
* For course to be offered fall semester: submit course proposal by Jan. 15
“ spring semester: Sept. 1
“ summer: Jan. 15
* Course numbers:
1. There are no clear guidelines on 200- vs. 300-level courses.
2. Special Topics courses (*94) require only the Dean’s permission. Courses may be offered only twice as 294 or 394; after that, they must be submitted as permanent courses and allocated another number.
3. Numbers cannot be reassigned, even if an existing course is no longer offered. If the department is running out of numbers, it may wish to create subcategories (ex. WLIT, ALIT, etc. rather than LITR).
4. *98 and *99 are independent studies and theses (100-, 200-, or 300-level as appropriate)
* Verify that the proposal indicates the frequency with which the course will be offered.
* Verify that the proposal indicates the estimated amount of time spent on proposed topics.
* The department should keep a copy of the form, lest it require tracking down at some later date. If you have not received confirmation (or a request for further information) after “a while,” contact the Dean’s secretary to ask what point the form is at.
1. The chair should prepare the following: a copy of both the current major/minor and the proposed major/minor (clearly marked), along with a cover letter explaining why the department wishes those changes. A list of prerequisites courses should appear in parentheses following each required or elective course. Proposals should not include hidden prerequisites. You should verify/document that you have a sufficient number of current faculty (both in your department and in departments whose courses you are requiring) with expertise that can support the proposal. Submit your proposal at least ten days prior to a meeting of the Curriculum Committee.
2. The request to change a major/minor is submitted to the Chair of the Curriculum Committee. The department chair or a well-versed representative must be present at that Curriculum meeting to address any questions the committee might have.
Notes:
* The Curriculum Committee Chair may request the
Executive Committee review any proposals before submitting them to the
full committee.
* Once approved by the Curriculum Committee, major changes are forwarded to the College Senate, Provost, and, if deemed significant, the State Education Department (SED). Changes in any registered program (i.e., Education or Accounting) will definitely be sent to SED. This may delay approval for some time. Some examples of significant changes are: changes which involve 15 or more required credits, a change of focus, a change in location or format (e.g., day to evening). Any change to a program leading to New York State teacher certification or licensure is considered major.
If you are submitting a curriculum change going to SED for a registered program, you should include the following information (more available at http://www.suny.edu/provost/programreview:
1) The name of the program (by registered title if it has one), the award, and the SED program code number from the SED Inventory of Registered Programs. If the program leads to teacher certification, indicate the current certificate area and level. If the program leads to NYS licensure, state that.
2) The rationale or need for the change.
3) If the program leads to certiciation in classroom teaching, a description of how the proposed change is consistent with the standards for certification in paragraph 52.21 (b) of the Commissioner's Regulations. You must also state how the proposed change is consistent with the University's New Vision in Teacher Education and with the standards for the accreditation of the program by your chosen national accrediting body.
4) Course outlines for new courses. Indicate prerequisites, the frequency with which the course is offered, and the name, faculty rank, and status of the instructor(s).
5) Brief resume(s) for new faculty teaching new courses.
6) Description of any additional costs.
7) Effective date of the change in the program.
* Changes in minors are normally reviewed by the Curriculum Committee’s Executive Board, which may bring the question to the committee as a whole if they feel discussion is in order.
* In case of overlap or potential impact on courses in other departments, departments should indicate to the Curriculum Committee they have discussed the proposed changes with the relevant chairs.
* Departments may need to be aware of the impact of major changes on students double-majoring with Education.
Return to Council of Chairs homepage