Curriculum Committee

2023-2024 Curriculum Committee Meeting Schedule

Course Description Guidelines

Undergraduate Bulletin


New Majors, Minors, or Programs

The procedures for establishing a new major, minor, or program are determined by the Committee on Academic Planning (CAP) and can be found here.

Basic process for proposing a new major, minor, or program:

  • The group (department or faculty from multiple departments) prepares a plan (according to guidelines from the CAP) for a new major, minor or program, and meets with the Dean to discuss needed resources.
  • The group submits the plan together with supporting documentation to the Committee on Academic Planning. If CAP approves the plan, it will be passed to the Curriculum Committee (CC) for approval of new courses or other curriculum changes required by the new program, major, or minor.
  • After approvals by both CAP and CC, the new program, major, or minor will be presented at a College Faculty meeting for faculty approval.

Basic process for closing a minor:

Minors that can no longer be staffed or that no longer recruit students can be closed with faculty approval according to the procedure established by CAP.

Briefly, proposals to close a minor may be submitted by:

  • the minor coordinator or program director with support from core faculty or advisory group members who oversee the minor
  • chairs of contributing departments
  • the Dean’s Office in response to outcomes from the program’s or minor’s 10-year program review.

CAP may approve a proposal to close a minor if it finds that staffing problems are likely to be long-lasting but that students currently in the minor will be able to complete it successfully. A recommendation from CAP to the Curriculum Committee, and approval of course/curricular changes/deletions by the Curriculum Committee, will be followed by presentation of the motion for closure of the minor at a College Faculty meeting.