Curriculum Committee Bylaws

The College of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee reviews proposals for amending the curriculum and recommends action to the Dean. The committee also advises the Dean about the quality and effectiveness of the curriculum and instruction.

Membership

The committee has ten members. The Dean appoints five members, at least one of whom is a faculty member, and the USFFA appoints five members, with one member from each group appointed as co-chair. The co-chair appointed by the Dean is an Assistant or Associate Dean. The USFFA shall elect two representatives from the sciences, three representatives from the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, with at least one representative from the Arts and Humanities and one representative from the Social Sciences; the third representative can come from either area, with a preference for one representative each from Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The committee reports to the Dean. Three non-voting members also attend Committee meetings – a representative from CASA, a representative from the Registrar’s Office, and a Program Assistant from the Dean’s Office.

The standard term for elected or appointed faculty serving on the Curriculum Committee is three years. Exceptions for shorter or staggered terms can be made at the discretion of the Curriculum Committee co-chairs in consultation with the Committee.

Meetings

Co-chairs determine the time and place of meetings, and develop and make available meeting agendas and materials at least one week before each meeting. Decisions are reached by consensus or by majority vote of members present. The Dean’s Office program assistant records minutes of the meetings for distribution by the co-chairs to committee members the week before the next meeting.

Procedures

  • Full-time faculty members may propose curriculum changes, after obtaining department or program approval, by submitting a New Program, Modify Program, New Course, or Modify Course proposal within Curriculog.
    • In the event that a program or course proposal is rejected by the department/program, the faculty proposer may submit an appeal to the Academic Assistant Dean or Associate Dean; this appeal will be reviewed by the Dean and, when appropriate, by the College Curriculum Committee.
  • The College’s curriculum review processes are outlined on the Faculty Resources pages. The Committee reviews all program proposals in the College that involve changes to degree requirements, as well as all course proposals that include Cultural Diversity designation. (Course proposals that include Community Engaged Learning designation are reviewed by the Community Engaged Learning Committee.)
  • The Academic Assistant Dean or Associate Dean distributes an agenda with links to the relevant proposals in Curriculog, accessible to all voting and nonvoting members, prior to each meeting.
  • Co-Chairs may invite faculty members who are proposing changes to attend the meeting.
  • When the Committee receives proposals with CD designation, it may appoint a subcommittee of members to review the proposal. The subcommittee may be called at any point during the approval process. The subcommittee shall review the proposal and make a recommendation to the full committee. If the subcommittee feels that a consultant may help it arrive at a decision, the subcommittee may hire a consultant from within the University or external to the university to assist. The subcommittee may be called by the Co-Chairs of the Committee. The Co-Chairs shall notify the full Curriculum Committee of its establishment.
  • The decisions and feedback of the CCC are entered into Curriculog by the Co-Chairs. “Approve” sends the proposal to the next step in the review process. “Reject” returns the proposal to the faculty originator for revisions; when the originator completes the revisions and relaunches the proposal it then reenters the CCC’s review procedures outlined above.

Revised February 2019.