1 Curriculum Policies and Definitions
- Included in New Course Proposal form.
- Use Curriculum Change Proposal form to add or delete course fees.
- Course fees are usually reviewed annually in the spring by the Vice President for
Finance and Administration and the Provost/Associate Vice President for
Academic Administration and Finance.
See Required forms, signatures, consultations, etc. for new or revised curricula
- During the initial program review for each department, any course not taught any time in the last four years should be reviewed for possible deletion from the
Catalog. - Thereafter, any course not taught every three years should be reviewed for possible
deletion from the Catalog.
Academic Certificate: An academic certificate consists of specific courses with a practical, applied
focus intended to enhance one’s professional credentials (page 64 of 2016-2017 undergraduate Academic Catalog).
See Required forms, signatures, consultations, etc. for new or revised curricula
Academic Major: a designated sequence of courses and/or field work in a discipline, related discipline, or professional area which represents the principal portion of the curriculum content of a program. Programs of study are “majors.”
- A baccalaureate major consists of at least one quarter of the total degree requirements.
- For every major 50% of the credits required in the major are taken at the 3000 level or above.
See Required forms, signatures, consultations, etc. for new or revised curricula
Academic Minor: A minor is a coherent set of courses in a discipline or interdisciplinary group other than the major of choice. An academic minor consists of at least 15 credit hours of courses. The courses selected to fulfill the minor must be approved by the department or faculty group that offers the minor program.
- Students may not major and minor in the same discipline.
- Students with a minor must complete six credits of upper-level courses outside the major discipline. These six credits could be taken as part of the minor.
- For a second or subsequent minor, at least nine credits must be different from the major or the first minor.
A minimum of six credits at the 3000 level or above are required by every minor.
See Required forms, signatures, consultations, etc. for new or revised curricula
Baccalaureate Degree: awarded at the completion of undergraduate programs requiring a minimum of 120 credit hours.
See New Program Approval Process
Blanket Agreement: Submitted to the Curriculum Committee when a department wants to implement a change in their curriculum for students following Catalogs prior to the Catalog in which the change will appear. Approved Blanket Agreements are usually entered into DegreeWorks.
See Creating Blanket Agreements
Double Major: A double major represents completion of the requirements of two dissimilar major programs. Only one degree is awarded. Both majors must be completed from the same Catalog (page 50, 2016-17 undergraduate Academic Catalog).
Dual Degree: Students fulfill all requirements for both degrees. Candidates for the two degrees need to complete at least 30 credits of coursework beyond those required for the first degree, and meet any other requirements specified in the respective Catalog. The degrees must be from different disciplines (page 50, 2016-17 undergraduate Academic Catalog).
Option: An option is a set of at least 12 semester hours of related courses within a particular major. An option should constitute no more than half of the major requirements. The term “option” is reserved for baccalaureate degree programs. Options are either
- required choice within a major, or
- elective, and not required by the major.
If a student chooses to pursue a second or subsequent option, at least 12 credits must be different from the first option. To complete an option a student uses the same Catalog as the major (page 50 of 2016-2017 undergraduate Academic Catalog).
See Required forms, signatures, consultations, etc. for new or revised curricula
See: https://www.plymouth.edu/committee/faculty/faculty-committees-and-appointed-groups/curriculum/forms-and-documents/ for the Curriculum Change Proposal form.
- To be used for any change to a degree, major, option, minor, certificate or existing permanent course.
- Serves as a cover to any proposal to create a new degree, major, option, minor or certificate.
- New degrees and majors are approved by the Faculty.
- New options are approved by the Provost; the Faculty are notified.
- New minors and certificates are approved by the Deans; the Faculty are notified.
- Deletion of a program/major or option requires the approval of the Provost.
- Deletion of a minor or certificate is approved by the Deans.
- Consultation with the Library is required for new programs and is noted on the Curriculum Change Proposal form.
See Required forms, signatures, consultations, etc. for new or revised curricula
Deadlines for actions by Curriculum Committee and/or General Education Committee
September: courses (new/revised) to be included in the spring schedule of classes
December: new programs and extensive changes to current programs
February:
- changes to the curriculum to be included in the next Catalog;
- changes to courses, including adding/deleting General Education attribute(s);
- new courses to be included in the next Catalog and the fall schedule of classes.
March Faculty meeting: closes all changes to the next undergraduate Academic Catalog
Submission to Curriculum Committee: 10 days prior to the committee meeting. The committee typically meets the 3rd Friday of the month, September-December and February-May. Proposals are submitted electronically to the Chair.
Submission to General Education Committee: two weeks prior to the committee meeting. The committee meets the 2nd and 4th Mondays, September-December and February-May. Proposals are submitted electronically to the Chair.
See Required forms, signatures, consultations, etc. for new or revised curricula
Curriculum changes become effective with the next Academic Catalog (with certain rare exceptions).
- Any change which narrows a requirement, i.e., adding a new prerequisite, cannot be implemented until the new Catalog is published.
- A change which broadens a requirement, i.e., deleting a prerequisite, may be implemented the semester following its approval.
See: http://www.plymouth.edu/committee/faculty/faculty-committees-and-appointed-groups/curriculum/forms-and-documents/ for the Experimental Course Proposal form.
An experimental course is one which lies outside the area of an already established course either in terms of perspective, subject matter, or audience.
- 1st offering: Experimental Course proposals are submitted to and approved by the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, who may also approve a General Education attribute.
- 2nd offering: Experimental Course proposals are submitted to the Curriculum Committee, with an Experimental Course Report of the first offering and student evaluations
Experimental courses are not included in the Academic Catalog.
- The Registrar’s office enters Experimental Courses into the appropriate schedule of classes (Fall, Winterim, Spring, summer).
The syllabi for Experimental courses should be kept on file by the department offering the course so when students need information about these courses, it can be accessed easily, even after several years have passed.
See Curriculum Change Procedures.
The syllabus of the course must accompany the General Education Course Proposal form. See:
Proposals for Connections and Directions courses may go to the General Education Committee and the Curriculum Committee in either order or simultaneously, but sometimes may be approved pending action of the other committee.
For a new course to be added to the Curriculum, it is expected that an existing course will be dropped.
See: http://www.plymouth.edu/committee/faculty/faculty-committees-and-appointed-groups/curriculum/forms-and-documents/ for the New Course Proposal form.
- Consultation with the Library is required and is noted on the New Course Proposal form.
- Consultation with Information Technology is required and is noted on the New Course Proposal form.
- Discussion with affected department is required and is noted on the New Course Proposal form.
If the new course being proposed was offered experimentally (once or twice), the Experimental Course Report must accompany the New Course Proposal.
The syllabus of the new course must accompany the New Course Proposal form. See: https://www.plymouth.edu/committee/faculty/files/2010/08/PSU-Syllabus-checklist-Appvd-06Feb2012.pdf for the PSU Course Syllabus Checklist.
Course numbers are assigned by the Registrar.
See Curriculum Change Procedures.
Proposals for Connections and Directions courses may go to the General Education Committee and the Curriculum Committee in either order or simultaneously, but sometimes may be approved pending action of the other committee.
Programs (e.g., degrees, options, minors) with a history of seriously declining enrollments should be considered for phasing out, unless they are central to the mission of Plymouth State University.
- Deletion of a program/major or option requires the approval of the Provost.
- Deletion of a minor or certificate is approved by the Deans.
When a course that is required in a program is deleted, the course remains active for two years so that students finishing that program will be served.
See Curriculum Change Procedures.
Voting and single-person programs
All proposals for curricular changes, deletions, and additions require you to record a vote of the appropriate department, academic unit, or cluster. In situations where there is only one faculty member in a discipline, the Curriculum Committee may agree to approve nominal curriculum changes relating to major-, option-, minor-, or course-names or –prefixes without first obtaining an academic unit vote. More substantial curriculum changes – e.g., those relating to course numbers, prerequisites, course-levels, grading systems, descriptions, etc. – shall continue to require a vote from the appropriate academic unit.
Adopted May 2018, Amended December 2019
- The topic of the Topics course changes with each offering.
- The individual topic for each offering is not printed in the Academic Catalog.
The syllabi for Topics courses should be kept on file by the department offering the course so when students need information about these courses, it can be accessed easily, even after several years have passed.