This message to all faculty and staff has been approved by Dr. Janet Kistner, Vice President for Faculty Development and Advancement.
May 1, 2020
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the University Curriculum Committee (UCC), I’d like to advise you of our plan for reviewing curriculum proposals in light of the challenges posed by the pandemic. For summer 2020, we will do our regular review of submissions in June. Proposals are to be submitted in the Curriculum Request Application (CRA) by 5 p.m. on June 4, 2020. The committee will complete these reviews by June 18. It will review courses that are already approved for one mode of delivery for which additional modes of delivery are being requested; new courses for semesters other than Fall 2020; and changes to existing courses (e.g., change in title, objectives, grade type, hours, repeat information, pre/co-requisites, course descriptions, new or changing delivery methods).
In order to address curriculum needs for Summer Session C, a sub-group of the UCC will review course proposals in May. These proposals would need to be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on May 21, 2020. These would be courses already approved for one mode of delivery and for which additional modes of delivery are being requested.
In order to prepare for various instructional scenarios for Fall 2020, many courses will need to be approved in alternative delivery modes (e.g., fully online, mostly online). Thus, a sub-group of the UCC will review NEW courses to be offered fully/mostly online for Fall 2020 in May. New courses are those that have not been assigned a course number by the Statewide Course Numbering System (SCNS). There is no guarantee that a new course would be assigned a number by the SCNS office in time to offer the course in the fall, but we would like to make every effort to get curriculum requests approved for that purpose. These proposals would need to be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on May 21, 2020.
To help expedite our work this summer we suggest the following:
- Only a file syllabus is needed for any curriculum review by the UCC. Please use the document “Curriculum Guide – Fall 2019” as a guide. This document distinguishes between a file syllabus and a student syllabus (the version provided to students). File syllabi submitted to the UCC that include only the elements indicated in this document are more likely to be approved quickly without requested revisions.
- For a course needed for Summer Session C for pandemic-related reasons, please include “This course would be offered Summer Session” in the Justification for Curricular Request section of the Course Information Form.
- For a new course needed for fall for pandemic-related reasons, please include “This course would be new for fall 2020” in the Justification for Curricular Request section of the Course Information Form. Providing this information will allow us to quickly distinguish those new courses needing approval for fall.
- The Office of Distance Learning is a great resource for assistance with and ideas about creating courses for online delivery.
Finally, a modification to the ADA statement to be included on all syllabi was approved at the Faculty Senate meeting on 4/29/2020. The revision reflects the change in the office title (i.e., Office of Accessibility Services) and updated contact information. Please ensure that student syllabi to be used for future course offerings include this information. The revised ADA statement will be available.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the University Curriculum Committee.
Thank you.
Elizabeth Jakubowski, UCC Chair
