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Curriculum Committee Disciplinary Courses and Programs

Curriculum Committee appreciates the time and effort required for course development or major revision. Please remember that CC acts to assist faculty in this arduous task by providing critical feedback based on the standards that the college has established. This feedback does not usurp the faculty member’s content authority, but brings to bear the variety of disciplinary perspectives of the Committee. In that spirit, the Committee provides the following guidance to proposers.

Collaborate and build support

Nearly every new or modified course or program affects other faculty and programs. Collaborate with others as you draft a proposal. Discuss goals, rationale, and challenges with them. Proposals must have the endorsement of the department chair. Proposals that affect programs outside of the home department must describe discussions with those affected programs.

If you are planning a new or significantly modified program, please provide advance notice to the Chair of Curriculum Committee and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Administration. This helps the committee plan. These individuals are also available to assist you prior to submission.

Build a Rationale

The most compelling rationale for new courses, new programs, or changes to programs will be grounded in program-level learning outcomes, which are statements of what students will know or be able to do upon completion of a program.

Consider and Development an Assessment Plan

Required for new majors or for new graduate degrees, and optional, but recommended, for other program types, having an assessment plan in place at the proposal page allows the committee to match coursework to program-level learning outcomes to help provide feedback and better dialog between proposers and the committee.  For best practices in assessment, check this PowerPoint file for tips and tricks.

Choose the right form

  • Request for a Reportable Change to a Course should be used when you wish to change the title, description, or prerequisites but not significantly alter the course. It is fast and efficient. No syllabus is required.
  • Request to Add a New or Significantly Modify a Course should be used for all new courses that are NOT part of a program revision happening at the same time. It is also used for significant revisions of an existing course, including any revision of a course that has not been taught in 5 years. This form can handle simple catalog changes such as adjusting how the course applies in a major while also adding or modifying the course. A full and detailed syllabus is required.
  • Request to Modify an Existing Program should be used when you want to re-structure, add or remove options, or similar changes to a major, minor, or concentration. New courses can be included using this form if they are part of a bigger package. You don’t need separate course proposal forms, but you will need full and detailed syllabi.
  • Request to Add a New Program should be used when you want to propose an entirely new program. Any new or modified courses that are part of the bigger package can be included using this form. You don’t need separate course proposal forms, but you will need full and detailed syllabi. You can propose a package of a major, a related minor, and courses all on this one form.

Meet the Deadlines

  • September 1 is the submission deadline for courses to be taught first in the following spring.
  • November 1 is the submission deadline for proposals to add a new major or significantly alter an existing major (but send them earlier if you are ready)
  • January 20 is the submission deadline for all courses to be taught first in the following fall, as well as proposals for new or revised minors and concentrations

Submission Process

Submit your materials to the online system on the webpage https://www.roanoke.edu/inside/a-z_index/academic_affairs/faculty_information/course_proposals . At this point, the documents will forward to your chair for approval. Allowing a week for this approval process is helpful. Only after the chair gives electronic approval will the documents move forward to CC. If you don’t get an automated email that your chair has approved the proposal, investigate.

Review Process

CC will review your materials. The more complete and thoughtful your materials are, the faster the review.  Detailed instructions appear within that document template. Syllabus guidelines include both required and suggested elements.

The CC Chair will communicate with you during the review process to let you know the status of your proposal. Timely communication with CC at this point in the process is paramount. Expect significant conversations over multiple weeks. The goals are to clarify and improve the proposal and increase the likelihood of its approval at a Faculty Meeting.

Your proposal must be approved in committee at least two weeks before the next Faculty Meeting to make it onto an agenda.

CC may move the proposal to the faculty in one of three ways: 1) the course is recommended for adoption; 2) the course is presented without recommendation; or 3) the course is not recommended for adoption. At this point, the faculty control the decision related to the course.

Important to Note

No proposals will be considered by the Committee until ALL necessary catalog changes have been submitted (see Catalog Changes section of Proposal form). These catalog changes move to the faculty floor with each course proposal exactly as you list them – completeness is imperative.

Attention to all details of the proposal process, including communication with your colleagues, department, chair, and CC, can streamline the approval process.

If a course proposal affects catalog language in any way (e.g., if it must be listed in a category of courses counting in a major or other program), the proposal form requires proposers to include marked up catalog language. Here is a Word version of the current catalog. Copy the needed section into the proposal form, and mark-up as noted in the form: Word version of college catalog.

Questions? Contact Dr. Dave Taylor, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Administration