Bylaws of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee

(Adopted November 19, 1970)
Revised September 26, 1974
Revised October 20, 1977
Revised October 26, 1978
Revised October 21, 1982
Revised April 6, 1983
Revised February 18, 1988
Revised November, 1989
Revised August, 1999
Revised December, 2003
Revised August, 2008

Name

The name of this Faculty Senate standing committee shall be the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.

Purposes

Section 1. The Committee shall be accountable to the Faculty Senate, as representative of the faculty which has primary responsibility for curriculum and instruction. All Curriculum Committee actions shall be communicated to the Provost on behalf of the Senate.

Section 2. The purposes of the Committee shall be to review, develop, and recommend policy and guidelines regarding curriculum to the Faculty Senate and approve or disapprove requests for new courses, course revisions, new programs, program revisions, major and sub-major academic programs, minors, concentrations, professional development certificates, and specializations.

Section 3. The objectives of the Committee shall be:

  1. To review, develop, and recommend new and/or modified curriculum policies.
  2. To serve as an academic forum to consider and act upon proposals for credit-producing learning experiences as well as major and sub-major academic programs and specializations.
  3. To ascertain if the proposal is in accordance with the Institutional Mission Statement, priorities, and policies of the University.
  4. To ascertain if the proposal will fulfill a justifiable need.
  5. To ascertain if the proposal has realistic, consistent and measurable objectives, and appropriate evaluation procedures.
  6. To ascertain if the proposal is housed in the optimum college or area relative to faculty expertise, facilities, and learning resources available to the program.
  7. To ascertain if the level (of a course proposal) is in keeping with the content, objectives, and prerequisites stated in the proposal, and in relationship to other offerings, and in keeping with when the student would normally be expected to take the offering.
  8. To ascertain if the title and catalog description is descriptive of the content and objectives of the proposal.
  9. To ascertain if the proposal results in unnecessary overlap or duplication with existing offerings.
  10. To ascertain if the proposal is desirable from an instructional viewpoint relative to quality and its relationship to other offerings.
  11. When appropriate, to ascertain whether a proposed course fulfills the requirements for inclusion in a specific category of the Design for Diversity program.
  12. To encourage a transdisciplinary approach to curriculum and instructional growth.
  13. To promote academic excellence and educational opportunity and encourage the use of appropriate standards throughout the curriculum.


Section 4. The Committee shall not consider the availability of budgetary resources for any proposal or the methodology of teaching a course.

  1. The availability of fiscal resources and personnel is the responsibility of the department and college as it is a budgetary decision; however, for informational purposes, reporting of the availability of fiscal resources and personnel shall be included in new course proposals and new or revised program proposals. Courses and programs affected by reallocation should also be reported to the Committee.
  2. The methodology of teaching a course is the responsibility of the individual instructor, department and/or college and is described only to aid in understanding the objectives and intent of the course; however, class sizes of courses are an appropriate concern of the faculty through its Curriculum and Instruction Committee.


Section 5. In coordination with the Associate Vice Chancellor, the committee will review and make recommendations concerning the university's Curriculum Handbook.

Membership

Section 1. The members shall concern themselves with the Institutional Mission Statement, and shall be elected to provide a cross-section of the academic community of the University.

Section 2. The qualifications of the members of the Committee shall be:

  1. To be knowledgeable about the University, its mission, structure, and the more specific specialized objectives and missions of the various units which comprise the total University.
  2. To be knowledgeable about the bylaws and status of the Committee within the University structure.
  3. To be able to serve without undue distraction of other activities either imposed on or undertaken voluntarily by proposed members. This implies that members should not be so unduly involved with other activities that they distract from active and meaningful service on the Committee.


Section 3a. The duties of the members of the Committee shall be:

  1. To attend all meetings of the Committee.
  2. To study all the material submitted before the meeting to become knowledgeable of what is to be considered, and to be able to act intelligently and professionally on the material at the meeting.
  3. To participate fully in the activities of the Committee in considering all items submitted.
  4. To serve, as needed, on sub-committees of the Committee when so assigned by the Chair. Subcommittees are established according to need to study and make recommendations to the Committee about those items under consideration or other items which the committee deems necessary of special consideration.
  5. To assume an all-university attitude in their membership, by refraining from individual or special group interest in their deliberations and voting. This implies giving highest consideration to the good of the University and its students on the part of the members of the committee.
  6. To serve as a consultative resource to staff, departments and colleges concerning the curricular review process and related issues.


Section 3b. The instructional resource representative to the committee is specifically charged with facilitating communication between the committee, proposers of curricular changes, and the instructional support units within the University Library and Instructional Technology Services.

Section 4. The members of the Committee shall consist of faculty, academic staff, and students:

  1. Three voting members are to be elected by and from each of the four colleges' faculty for a total of twelve: College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; College of Education, Health and Human Sciences (at least one of the three must be in the School of Education); College of Management; and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
  2. One voting member and one alternate elected by and from the combined units of the Library Learning Center and Instructional Technology Services and designated as the instructional support services representative.
  3. One voting member from the Graduate Education Committee elected by faculty with graduate faculty status.
  4. Two academic staff members elected by the Senate of Academic Staff.
  5. One voting student member elected by the Student Senate.
  6. One non-voting, ex-officio member from the Office of the Provost, normally expected to be the Associate Vice Chancellor.
  7. One non-voting ex-officio member from the Graduate School normally expected to be the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.


Section 5

Members elected from the colleges shall have an alternate elected in the same manner and for the same term as regular members to serve in the absence of the regular member.

Section 6. Terms of Office shall be as follows:

  1. The length of term of student committee members shall be at the discretion of the Student Senate.
  2. The length of term of faculty and academic staff members shall be two years.
  3. The committee members may serve successive terms.


Section 7. Rotation of Membership

  1. The colleges shall elect or reelect the faculty representatives (including the respective alternates) following a three-year rotation cycle so no more than one term will terminate in a given year.
  2. The Senate of Academic Staff shall elect two academic staff members and two alternates on a three-year rotation cycle.
  3. The Student Senate shall elect or reelect a student member for a term it shall designate.
  4. Member terms shall start with the first meeting of the committee in each new academic year.
  5. Agencies (Colleges, functional units, and senates) electing members shall do so before the end of the academic year preceding the September starting month of membership.
  6. When a member or alternate member must resign from the Committee before the end of their term, the unit represented by that member or alternate shall elect a replacement to fulfill the uncompleted portion of that member's or alternate's term.
  7. All elections for college representative members of the committee shall be conducted by the Faculty Senate in accordance with its rules and procedures.

Officers and Secretary

Section 1. The officers of the Committee shall be a Chair and Vice Chair.

Section 2. The Secretary shall be the Associate Vice Chancellor and shall serve as ex-officio, non-voting member of the Committee and liaison officer to the Provost.

Section 3. The Chair and the Vice Chair shall be elected by the Committee.

Section 4. The officers shall serve a term of one year and may be reelected.

Section 5. The election of officers shall be held at the September meeting.

Section 6. The Associate Vice Chancellor will conduct the election of officers.

Duties of Officers and Secretary

Section 1. The Chair shall:

  1. Preside at all meetings of the Committee.
  2. Establish and arrange meeting schedule and location.
  3. Maintain liaison with the Associate Vice Chancellor regarding curriculum matters and, in coordination with the Associate Vice Chancellor, establish the agenda for committee meetings.
  4. Attend the meetings and serve as a voting member of the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate.
  5. Report all curriculum decisions made by the Faculty Senate back to members of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.
  6. Maintain liaison with the Chair of the Faculty Senate and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate regarding curriculum matters.
  7. Conduct proceedings of the Committee in accordance with the bylaws.

Section 2. The Vice Chair shall assume and perform the duties of the Chair in the absence or disability of the Chair.

Section 3. The Secretary shall:

  1.  Notify all faculty and administrators of regular meetings, including in the notice a call for materials to be submitted and deadlines for submission, no less than two weeks in advance of the submission deadline.
  2.  Notify all members of the Committee, the Chair of the Faculty Senate, the Provost, and other necessary parties of any special meetings.
  3.  Receive copies of all materials submitted for consideration at a meeting and collate them in preparation for distribution.
  4.  Prepare an agenda for each regular meeting and distribute copies of the agenda plus copies of all submitted materials to personnel as required two weeks in advance of each regular meeting.
  5.  Notify parties who submit materials of the meeting at which such materials will be considered, and inform them if their presence is required.
  6.  Keep an accurate record of the proceedings and actions of each meeting.
  7.  Prepare copies of the minutes within one week after a meeting and distribute them as required.
  8. Send one (1) copy of the minutes and a set of all materials, along with appropriate approval sheets, to the Provost for approval, modification, or rejection by the Provost and Chancellor.
  9.  Upon receipt of signed approval forms (item 8), appropriately inform the Registrar, Library, Graduate Office, each college and Learning Resources, and place actions on file in the Office of the Provost.
  10.  Distribute the final actions taken by the Provost and Chancellor to the members of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee, and to administrative and faculty offices as required.


Section 4. The secretary may delegate some of all of the responsibilities described in Section 3 of this article to an appropriate staff member who will serve as recording secretary.

Meetings

Section 1. Regular meetings of the Committee shall be held monthly during the academic year and as needed during the summer session.

Section 2. Special meetings may be called by the Chair.

Section 3. The quorum shall consist of a majority of the voting members.

Section 4. The meetings shall be open.

Procedure for Recommendations

Section 1. All procedures for recommendations shall be in accordance with the Curriculum Handbook approved by the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.

Section 2. The recommendations will only be considered at a meeting if the party submitting the material is present or represented by an alternate. At the discretion of the Chair, certain routine recommendations may be presented without representation.

Section 3. The proposer of a recommendation shall submit to the Associate Vice Chancellor the number of copies as specified by the Curriculum Handbook. The deadline for submission shall be stated in the notice of the meeting.

Section 4. It shall be permissible, in an emergency and at the request of the Provost, to circumvent the submission of materials. (A special course must still be approved by the Curriculum and Instruction Committee unless the deadline impedes its approval, in which case the Provost may authorize the course to be taught.)

Amendments

Section 1. Recommendations for changes in the bylaws shall be distributed to members at least two weeks prior to consideration by the Committee.

Section 2. Recommendations to the Faculty Senate for changes in the bylaws shall be approved by a two-thirds majority of the voting members of the Committee.