University Curriculum Committee

Purpose

The purpose of the University Curriculum Committee (UCC) is to make recommendations to the Senate concerning matters of undergraduate and graduate curriculum, program development and review, and policies and procedures regarding curriculum and academic programs in keeping with the educational aims of the university.

Charge

The primary focus of this committee is on courses and curricula. In addition, it is concerned with the overall educational aims of the university. It is through the curricula that these aims are achieved; thus, this committee is involved in academic planning and priority-setting as well as review of specific programs, curricula, and course offerings. The specific duties of the committee are:

• to review and recommend changes in the educational aims of the university and to establish academic priorities in light of these aims and objectives.
• to review and make recommendations about policies and procedures for curriculum codification, academic program development and review, and related matters.
• to review and act on all curriculum and program modifications proposed by individual school curriculum committees, including, but not necessarily limited to, course additions, deletions, modifications, changes of title or number of courses, substantial changes in content or prerequisites for an existing course, degree and institutional requirements, and new program proposals.
• to establish and review policies for granting academic credit for courses.
• to review and monitor uniform policies for granting Breadth of Study credits.
• to establish and review procedures for responsible review of existing academic. programs, making recommendations regarding continuance or discontinuance of programs in light of educational aims of the university.
• to submit monthly minutes and recommendations to be voted on by the Senate.
• to submit a final annual report and recommendations to be voted on by the Senate.

Provisional Course Offerings

Credit-bearing courses offered on- or off-campus, whether in a traditional format or by way of alternate media (including videotape, interactive television, computers, mechanical correspondence or any combination of media) equally imply university endorsement of the content, curriculum, performance requirements of the course, and the professional credentials of the instructor. Therefore, any credit-bearing course offered, either on- or off-campus, ought to be discussed and acted upon with the same rigor, moving completely through school review, to the University Curriculum Committee and then to the Senate. Ordinarily, all substantive changes in course offerings are previewed and approved before they are implemented. Courses that alter the core curriculum or the requirements for the major must undergo the complete approval process before they can be offered. All curricula should be developed through careful research and planning. It is recognized, however, that occasionally requests for courses must be acted upon much too rapidly than the total review process allows. In that instance, the following shall be observed and followed:

• in the event that credit-bearing courses need to be offered rapidly and cannot be accommodated within the structures of seminar or topic offerings (which by their nature are one-time offerings), the appropriate school/division dean/director may authorize an offering of such a course.
• the dean/director must first, however, consult with faculty in the appropriate discipline and secure documentation of faculty approval before the course is provisionally authorized.
• the dean/director must verify the credentials of instructors who are not regular members of the university's faculty.
• as far as is relevant, the dean/director must insure that the course offered meets the criteria for any new course offering, as outlined in the "Checklist for Submitting Course Proposal to University Curriculum Committee."  Any course approved on the dean/director's authority must include a brief explanation of the genesis, purpose and likely future of that course.
• the dean/director must then notify the registrar of the provisionally-approved course.
• the registrar must, in turn, notify the Curriculum Committee of any provisionally-approved courses.
• the dean/director must also notify the appropriate school curriculum committee at its next meeting of any provisional approvals.

By the end of the third consecutive semester, after a provisionally-approved course is offered, it must be reviewed completely, as outlined in Section 3.5.3.2. of the Shenandoah University Faculty Handbook.

Chair

Wanida Wanant, PhD, RN, associate professor of nursing currently serves as chair of this committee.
wwannant@su.edu

Deadline for Submission of Materials

All materials must be submitted by October 15^th for fall review and February 15^th for spring review.

Click on the link below to access the appropriate submission forms. These are also available on the Blackboard Community Portal.