Course Approvals Permanent Courses
- 1. What does it mean for a course to be a part of the permanent curriculum?
- 2. How do I get a course approved as a part of the permanent curriculum?
- 3. What is the deadline for getting CPC approval for new courses that will be part of the permanent curriculum?
- 4. What if a department wants to have a permanent course whose topic will change from year to year?
- 5. Are there any courses a student can take more than once? How many times can a student repeat a course for credit?
- 6. If I have not taught a course for a number of years, can I revive it?
1. What does it mean for a course to be a part of the permanent curriculum?
A course is part of the permanent curriculum when it has been approved by the Curricular Policy Committee and been assigned a permanent course number. These are courses that become part of the department's stock of courses and which faculty plan to teach on a regular basis--every year, every other year, every third year. These are the courses that will appear in the Course Catalog.
If you do not plan to teach a course on a regular basis, it would be preferable to designate it as a one-time Special Topics course. If a course has not been taught in the previous seven years, it ceases to be part of the regular curriculum and must be resubmitted to CPC.
Every permanent course is assigned a unique course number. If a permanent course is no longer taught by the department, that number cannot be reused until seven years have passed since the course number was last used. It is possible, and even desirable at times, for a course to be designated by a relatively general title and description to be taught in turn by several members of the department. Minor changes to the curriculum of these general courses need not be approved each time a new faculty member takes over the course. So, for instance, Introduction to Geography might be taught in very different ways by different members of the Geography Department, but it is still the same course for the purposes of curriculum management. There is no need to have a separate course for every faculty member.
2. How do I get a course approved as a part of the permanent curriculum?
Forms for course approval may be found on line at the Registrar's web page under Forms for Faculty. Because of security issues with PHP script forms, these forms are accessible only via the on-campus network (including VPN).
The form for proposing a New Course for Permanent Adoption to the Curriculum consists of three parts:
Part A: should be filled out by the faculty member who will teach the course. Included with Part A must be a copy of the syllabus (this may be a tentative syllabus, but it should minimally include information both about course content, evaluation procedures, a policy on academic honesty and a policy on accommodations for students with disabilities.)
Part B: should be filled out by the department chair to indicate how this new course would fit into the department's curriculum. If the course being proposed is interdisciplinary or will be cross-listed for diversification purposes, the chairs of all departments involved (including those granting release time) must complete part C (Interdisciplinary Courses) of the form. CPC will not consider any proposal until all parts of the proposal (Part A, syllabus, Part B, and, if required, Part C) have been completed.
Part C: If the course being proposed is interdisciplinary, the chairs of all departments involved (including those granting release time) must complete part C of the form.
CPC will not consider any proposal until all parts of the proposal (Part A, syllabus, Part B, and Part C) have been completed.
3. What is the deadline for getting CPC approval for new courses that will be part of the permanent curriculum?
To be listed in the Course Catalog, courses proposed as permanent additions to the curriculum must be received by the chair of CPC by December 1, for the Fall semester courses (of the following year) from the continuing faculty, February 1, for the Spring semester courses (of the following year) from the continuing faculty.
Additionally, CPC will consider proposals from the newly hired faculty if submitted by April 1.
In all cases, we urge all faculty to submit their proposals as early as possible and well in advance of the deadlines.
Course proposals received after that date may be considered but, if approved, they will not be listed in the Course Catalog until the following year.
4. What if a department wants to have a permanent course whose topic will change from year to year?
It is possible to create as a permanent course a generic course--say a senior seminar or a first year seminar--whose topic might vary from year to year but whose pedagogical aims would remain consistent and should be indicated in the course description. The department would not need to seek new approval for each iteration of the course. CPC would approve the pedagogical aims of the course rather than the specific content. The title and description (e.g. Senior Seminar) should be general enough to cover what is likely to be taught.
5. Are there any courses a student can take more than once? How many times can a student repeat a course for credit?
In some cases, courses are designed to be repeatable. These courses should be designated by an unchanging number and a general title, with the course description clearly indicating that the course is repeatable for credit. Faculty wishing to designate a course as repeatable may request this through the course approval process, when proposing the course to CPC. Faculty should indicate on the course approval form how often a student may repeat the course and should offer a clear rationale for allowing students to repeat the course. The catalog description should also state how often the course may be repeated.
6. If I have not taught a course for a number of years, can I revive it?
If a course has not been taught for seven (7) years, it is no longer a part of the permanent curriculum and must be resubmitted to CPC.