Curricular Proposals

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Retirement Fund
Curricular Programs Committee

Undergraduate

  1. General instructions:
    All proposals must be submitted by the Department Chair on a form provided for this purpose. The completed form, with all supporting materials, must be submitted electronically as a Word document to the appropriate academic Dean, who will then forward them to Assistant to the Provost. The Provost serves as the chair of the Curricular Programs Committee (CPC). All proposals reviewed by the CPC are forwarded to the Faculty Senate for action.
  2. Any Petrie School of Music proposal, regardless of degree affiliation, must receive a majority vote of the PSOM faculty before it can be sent to the academic Dean and the CPC.
  3. The CPC will meet at least once each month during the academic year to act on any proposals. Proposals will not be considered by the CPC unless and until they are complete.
  4. The CPC chair’s administrative assistant will send final minutes of each meeting to the CPC chair, the CPC members, academic Deans, and the Faculty Senate President within one week of receipt of the draft minutes from the CPC secretary.
  5. The Senate will act on any proposals received from the CPC no later than the third meeting of each month. In January Term, the Senate may act on proposals via email vote.
  6. The deadline for proposals submitted for courses to be taught in the January or spring terms is the preceding September 1. The deadline for courses to be taught in the fall term is the preceding February 1. Exceptions to these deadlines may be granted by the Chair of the CPC.
  7. Proposals for January Term study-travel courses must be submitted to the CPC no later than March 15 preceding the January in which the course is to be offered. If the study-travel course is planned for the summer, the proposal must be submitted to the CPC no later than the preceding October 15. Exceptions to these deadlines may be granted by the Chair of the CPC.
  8. All courses, including Special Topics courses, must be approved by the CPC, the Senate, and the faculty before they are listed on the University course schedule. Any Special Topics course taught three times must be approved as a regular course before it is offered for a fourth time.

Undergraduate General Education Program Requirements

The General Education Program (GEP) requirements are listed in the Converse University Undergraduate Catalog and on information sheets distributed to all academic advisors.

Courses are designated as satisfying a GEP requirement by the CPC, keeping in mind the following general education goals adopted by the faculty during the GEP review in 2006:

  • Oral and written communication
  • Critical thinking skills
  • Quantitative reasoning skills
  • Appreciation of creativity/creative expression
  • Understanding of international/global perspectives
  • Awareness of wellness and healthy lifestyles.

The following guidelines are provided to assist faculty in developing courses meeting specific GEP requirements:

  • All students must take at least one course having a significant component that studies non-European or North American (excluding Mexican) content. This is not a requirement for a separate course but a graduation requirement that must be met by students within existing courses.
  • All students must take at least one course in the major that has been designated as Writing Intensive. Writing intensive courses are characterized by multiple writing assignments of different assignment types. Writing intensive courses may or may not include assignments requiring revision by students. This is not a requirement for a separate course but a graduation requirement that must be met within existing courses.
  • In addition to the GEP requirement of Math 108 or a higher level math course, all students must take at least one additional course making substantial use of mathematical, logical, or computational reasoning. This Quantitative Course requirement could be met by appropriate courses in computer science, statistics, accounting, logic and critical thinking, physics, economics, finance, math or other courses as approved by the CPC.

Graduate

  1. Policy
    All courses offered for graduate credit, whether in the academic year or summer session (or both), must be approved by the Graduate Council and the Graduate Faculty. If a course is open to both graduate and undergraduate students (double listed), the course must first be approved by the Curricular Programs Committee. All syllabi for graduate courses must carry a graduate number (500, 600, 700 series). Syllabi for double listed courses (undergraduate and graduate students; e.g., EDU 340/540), must differentiate requirements and grading policy. Syllabi for all approved graduate courses are kept on file by the Dean of the Graduate School in the Graduate Office.
  2. Procedures
    • A professor may submit a graduate course proposal (with rationale, content outline, assignments, bibliography) to the Graduate Dean, who then submits the course to the Graduate Curriculum Committee. The Graduate Curriculum Committee will examine the course rationale, assignments, grading policy, course content, and return the course proposal for modification or recommend to the Graduate Council for approval. If approved, the course then goes to the Graduate Faculty acting as a whole.
    • When a new double listed course comes to the Graduate Council via the Curricular Programs Committee, the Council may approve, disapprove, or return the course proposal for further modification.
    • Course proposals approved by the Graduate Council for graduate credit are presented to the Graduate Faculty for approval. If the Graduate Faculty accepts the recommendation for approval, the course becomes an official addition to the graduate curriculum.

Grant Proposals Affecting Curriculum

All grant applications or proposals that involve course additions, deletions, or renumbering in the curriculum must be submitted to the Curricular Programs Committee for consultation and review before applying for the grant. The Committees need not give formal approval to the applicant, but shall report the receipt of the application to the Senate. No further action shall be required unless recommended by the Committees or required by the Senate. If the grant involves a curricular change for the next semester, the application must be submitted before the deadlines specified for submission of curriculum proposals. If the grant is approved by the granting agency, any curricular alterations must be approved by the faculty at a meeting at least one month before formal advisement for the next semester.

Credit Hour Policy

  1. General Policies: Converse University uses a modified version of the credit hour as the official unit of measure for the assignment of academic credit. At Converse, the traditional in-class instructional period is a fifty-minute instructional hour. Courses are delivered in one of three modes:
    1. Traditional, Synchronous Delivery Mode: Each credit hour requires a minimum of one in-class instructional period per week (or its equivalent for courses scheduled one or two days per week) accompanied by an expectation of at least two sixty-five (65) minute periods of out-of-class student work per credit hour per week for each full semester of 13.5-15 weeks. Equivalent periods are observed in all synchronous instruction formats, including evening and weekend courses. In the January Interim Term, each credit hour requires a minimum of twelve (12) in-class instructional periods accompanied by an expectation of at least two sixty-five (65) minute periods of out-of-class student work per credit hour.
    2. Hybrid Delivery Mode: Hybrid courses combining online, asynchronous instruction and in-class, synchronous instruction meet in the classroom setting for a minimum of two sessions consisting of a total of at least four instructional periods. These courses require students to participate in online instruction each week that approximates the time requirements of traditional courses but base the credit hour assigned to the course on the satisfaction of learning outcomes equivalent in rigor and content to traditional courses.
    3. Fully Online, Asynchronous Delivery Mode: Fully online, asynchronous courses by definition do not (necessarily) meet as a class at set times. Online courses are delivered either within the general time frame of a regular course semester or within a special, seven-week term. In both cases, courses are designed and taught on a learning outcomes basis, so that students advance in the course following assessment demonstrating systematic, engaged learning and specific course content accomplishments. Course material is sequenced so that the intended learning outcomes are achievable within the designated semester or term but in every case the outcomes are comparable to those of traditional delivery mode courses at equivalent credit hour levels.

Science lab courses and studio courses meet more than the minimum stated in Traditional, Synchronous Delivery Mode.  Studio art and interior design lab one-credit term course represents 100 minutes (1.5 hours) of contact time each week. A three-credit term course meets for 300 minutes (5 hours) a week. There is the expectation of at least four sixty-five-minute periods of out-of-class student work per credit hour per week.

In accordance with the SACSCOC Policy Statement on Credit Hours (August 2018), Converse affirms that the credit hour represented in its modified instructional period and accompanying expectations is based on “intended learning outcomes…verified by evidence of student achievement” that reasonably approximate the federal definition of a credit hour.

Converse holds the view that learning outcomes are the most important consideration in assessing the success of academic coursework in all delivery modes. Academic programs are assessed annually at Converse and learning outcomes in each program are assessed as part of a regular cycle, where each degree program is fully reviewed at least once every three years.

The slightly shortened in-class time (the 50-minute instructional period) for traditional, synchronous delivery modes reflects the needs of complex schedules and student movement between classes without interfering with the intended learning outcomes and student achievement in each course. Converse understands the “Guidelines for Flexibility in Interpretation” of the federal standard in the SACSCOC Policy Statement, including that the federal definition “does not dictate particular amounts of classroom time versus out-of-class student work.” Converse documents student learning outcomes and believes that the totality of in-class and out-of-class time in its official policy best serves the institutional mission and intended outcomes of the curriculum.

Procedures for Approval of Courses and Academic Credit

At Converse, approval for undergraduate courses begins with course proposals in academic departments or program areas and reviewed by the appropriate academic dean, proceeds to the appropriate curriculum review committee, to the Faculty Senate, and finally to the general faculty meeting as a committee of the whole for final approval. For graduate courses, approval begins in academic departments or programs, proceeds to the Graduate Dean, who submits the proposal to the Graduate Curriculum Committee. The Graduate Curriculum Committee examines the course rationale, assignments, grading policy, course content, and returns the course proposal for modification or recommends it to the Graduate Council for approval. If approved by the Graduate Council, the course then goes to the graduate faculty meeting as a committee of the whole for final approval.

As part of the course approval process, the academic deans and appropriate curriculum review committees determine the appropriate level of academic credit to be granted. This determination incorporates an examination of the intended learning outcomes for the proposed course and the amount and difficulty of work a student is expected to complete within the specified amount of academically engaged time.