University Campuses Undergraduate Curriculum Coordination

Introduction

Executive Order, Sec. I 3-23C: Legislative Authority of the Faculty (3 February 2004) requires the President to refer the following types of undergraduate program changes to the Faculty Senate for coordinated faculty review by all three campuses: undergraduate degrees, majors, minors, and certificate programs, or substantive changes to the same of a non-routine nature, regardless of campus of origin. The purpose of this process is to enhance the quality of undergraduate course offerings through peer review, promote coordination and communication among the campuses, and to promote faculty collaboration that can lead to greater quality and optimal use of resources. This memo describes the process for carrying out the University Campuses Review Process. . Please note, however, that no campus has the power or authority to veto a program or program change proposed by another campus. Finally, this review is designed to generate feedback at a point in time where the proposals are developed but not approved so that the originating campus can make full use of any feedback that is provided.

Process

Stage I: Review of Developed Proposals

  1. Each campus has the responsibility to develop its own curricular offerings. After a campus unit develops and approves a curricular offering, it should be forwarded to the appropriate academic program review committee for that campus. 1
  2. The academic program review committee of each campus shall make an initial determination that the proposal is sufficiently developed to merit academic program review. 2 It shall also determine whether the proposed change meets the guidelines for tri-campus review. 3 If a campus academic program review committee or the University Registrar has questions about the applicability of the Tri-campus review process, they should consult the Chair of the Faculty Council on Tri-Campus Policy (FCTCP).
    1. If the proposal meets this threshold, it shall be forwarded immediately to the University Registrar, Curriculum Secretary. Materials to be forwarded to the University Registrar must include, in electronic form:
      1. A completed university curriculum Form 1503
      2. The rationale for the proposal
    2. If the proposal is not complete, it shall be returned by the University Registrar to the unit of origin for further development.
  3. When the University Registrar receives the completed program proposal, it will be posted on the Web immediately for review. The proposal shall be available for review for 15 business days.4
  4. Simultaneously with the posting of the proposal, the University Registrar shall send an e-mail to (1) the voting faculty of all UW campuses, (2) the Deans, Directors, and Chairs (DDC) list serve, (3) the Chair of each campus academic program review committee, and (4) the Chair of the Faculty Council on Tri-campus Policy informing them of the opportunity to review the curriculum proposal.
  5. At the end of the comment period, the University Registrar shall compile all comments made on the proposal and forward the comments to the Chair of the academic program review committee at the originating campus. That committee shall then consider all comments as part of their academic program review process, and shall provide a summary of responses to the comments received from all campuses.

Stage II

  1. The originating campus academic program review committee will obtain final campus approvals on the final proposal.
  2. When final campus approval has been received the proposal will be forwarded by the appropriate campus official to the University Registrar.
  3. The University Registrar shall forward to the Chair of the Faculty Council on Tri-campus Policy with a copy to the Chair of the Faculty Senate the following materials: the program proposal, all comments, the campus academic program review committee's response to the comments, the University Campuses Undergraduate Program Review checklist.
  4. The Council on Tri-campus Policy, or a delegated subcommittee of the Council consisting of the chair (or designee) and two council members (one representing the faculty of each of the other two campuses), will convene to determine if the review satisfied the following requirements
    1. Was the final proposal made available for a 15 business -day comment period?
    2. Did the campus academic program review committee consider comments and respond appropriately in its review? The Council will send, within 14 business days of receiving the proposal, a memo describing the results of their review to the University Registrar. In short, at this stage the task of the Council will be to ensure that the process described in Stage I and the intent of the Executive Order was followed.
  5. The University Registrar will forward the final proposal and a copy of the Council's memo to the President for final action and transmittal to the appropriate dean/chancellor and Chair of the Faculty Senate. Matters of non-adherence to procedures or unresolved issues related to comments received will be the responsibility of the President.
1  UW, Seattle: Faculty Council on Academic Standards (FCAS)
   UW, Bothell: General Faculty Organization
   UW, Tacoma: Faculty Assembly

2   The originating campus' academic program review committee will review its own proposals, and should consider the following elements, using its own processes and criteria:

3   As stated in the Executive Order, tri-campus review is required for new undergraduate degrees, majors, minors, and certificate programs, or substantive changes to the same of a non-routine nature. This includes, but may not be limited to:
  1. Changes that would alter the degree information that appears on a student transcript, for example, new or changed degree titles, minors, or options, etc.
  2. Changes in pre-requisites that would significantly increase or decrease the number of students admitted to the major, minor, or option.
  3. Changes in graduation requirements that would significantly increase or decrease the number of students completing the major, minor, or option.
  4. Any change in a program on one campus that could significantly alter enrollments in specific programs on one of the other two campuses, for example changing the format of a program to distance learning or fee-based offering.
4   The Registrar may grant a 5-business day extension of this deadline to any individual who submits a written request to the Registrar prior to the end of the original comment period.