Curriculum Committee
Meeting information and how to propose a new course
Meeting schedule
Monthly meetings are held Tuesdays from 2-4 p.m.
Each month’s Curriculum Committee Packet includes the meeting agenda and course information for approval.
FALL 2024
SPRING 2025
course proposal documents
In order to facilitate the approval process for new and changed graduate courses, the Graduate School uses the Course Proposal Form to document each request. The information requested on this form helps the committee to achieve the following goals:
1.) To ensure that graduate students have a clear understanding of the programs and courses offered by the Graduate School.
2.) To ensure that resource issues have been addressed and duplication of similar courses is minimal.
course proposal process
Course proposals will be reviewed by the Graduate Curriculum Committee in the order they are received by the Graduate School, taking into account the semester in which it will be effective and the readiness of the course proposal to be reviewed (i.e., all established criteria must be met).
PLEASE NOTE: Submission of a course proposal is not a guarantee of being scheduled and reviewed at the next Graduate Curriculum Committee meeting.
Course proposals submitted must meet the established criteria outlined by Academic Affairs and the requirements outlined by the Graduate School to be reviewed by the Graduate Curriculum Committee.
Under no circumstances will a course proposal be scheduled for review if it is received by the Graduate School within one week or less of the next Curriculum Committee meeting or the established criteria have not been met.
Achieving clarity and focus of catalog descriptions is of great concern to the committee. When revisions are necessary, the committee works with departments to ensure the descriptions are clear and do not contain extraneous information. For example, information on frequency, meeting times, and how the course relates to others within the program are unnecessary elements.
Suggestions to consider:
All courses exist within the context of the program(s) offered by the initiating department. This contextual information should be provided in the rationale for the course
Undergraduates may enroll in 500-level courses, while 600-level courses are restricted to graduate students. Please include the proposed course number in the rationale, as well as any intent to cross-list the course at the undergraduate level. Please consult with Student Records or the Graduate School to ensure a particular course number has not already been used.
Questions to Address Include:
Factors to consider include:
Course modifications may be anything from a simple change in the number of credits to a major rewrite of the catalog description. Changes such as the latter should be treated as a new course offering. A course outline, instructor, and rationale for the change should be included. The Graduate School asks for a rationale section for any courses presented to the Committee, regardless of the level of complexity of the change being requested.
For various reasons, there are courses still listed that will never again be offered in the form described in the catalog description. The committee asks departments to submit course elimination requests as they come across these courses.
Courses that are relevant but unable to be offered for the foreseeable future should be “sunsetted.” Sunsetted courses can be reactivated by contacting the graduate school or the Office of Student Records within 5 years of the sunset date.
