Supplemental Information about Forms
1. During 2000–01, the Curriculum Committee adopted a more liberal interpretation of the qualifications for Liberal Arts credit. Courses that do not now count as Liberal Arts, but which expose students to theoretical issues, may now be considered for Liberal Arts credit.
2. In order to expedite processing of proposals, and to provide the chair of the committee with a clearer sense of upcoming proposals, proposals need to be submitted to the Curriculum Committee chair at the same time as they are submitted to the associate dean of the faculty (and the director of LS or interdisciplinary director, if appropriate). Generally speaking, however, the committee will defer consideration of a proposal until the associate dean has explored the resource implications of the proposal and signed the proposal form.
3. Recently, the typical change in semester hours of credit has been from 3 to 4 hours. The additional hour can be provided by a contact hour or by a flexible credit hour (which typically receives greater scrutiny from the committee). You should review the guidelines for the additional hours. To clarify the nature of such curricular change, please submit a description of student learning objectives and how they will be assessed, plus copies of old and new syllabi.
4. You should review guidelines for enrollment caps. With the advent of reconfiguration, course enrollment caps need to adhere to the guidelines. Only under extremely unusual circumstances will the committee approve an enrollment cap below those specified in the guidelines.
5. The distinction is made here for the departments such as sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work; Foreign Languages and Literatures, etc., in which more than one discipline is contained. Generally speaking, the two-letter designation used by the registrar is the needed information.
6. Please indicate the course level by 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX. Specific numbers will be assigned by the registrar. You can request a particular number, but the registrar makes the final decision about numbering.
7. The catalog description should be carefully worded to reflect the actual content of the course. It is customary to begin the description with a sentence fragment. Please avoid passive voice, especially regarding student involvement. Also, avoid using such phrases as "in-depth" and "intense" or "this course will carefully analyze and extensively research," which add nothing substantive to the description. Please try to keep your description brief. Consult the Skidmore College Guide to Writing for stylistic clarification. Consult the current Catalog for examples.
8. Please take care with the abbreviated title. This is the course title that will appear on registration materials and on transcripts.
9. The course syllabus is an extremely useful document to the Curriculum Committee. It provides the committee with invaluable detail about the organizational structure of the course. To aid you in the preparation of your proposal, we provide you with an example of an extensive syllabus and a set of student learning objectives as well as a link to an assessment page that includes a guide to writing student learning objectives.
10. These questions are all intended to elicit information that will allow the associate dean and the Curriculum Committee to assess the resource implications of the new course. For example, if the instructor is currently teaching a full load of courses and is proposing a new course, it is essential for the committee to know which course is being replaced by the new course. Will the replaced course no longer be offered? Will the deletion of the course, or a reduction in the frequency with which it will be offered, have an impact on majors or on a particular program area? If the new course will require, for example, the addition of resources to the library, such information is also quite useful.
11. Even if the proposal is for a course outside of the proposer's department (e.g., LS2), the chair of the department in which the proposer resides must sign the proposal.
12. The major/minor/program form is deceptively simple. However, the creation of a new major, minor, or program is a laborious process. The potential resouce implications are significant, so the associate dean of the faculty will need to work closely with the people proposing the new major, minor, or program. Revisions to existing majors, minors, and programs may also have resource implications, so they will also be reviewed carefully by the associate dean before bringing the proposal to the Curriculum Committee.
13. In order to expedite processing of proposals that require LS director and/or interdisciplinary program approval, proposals need to be submitted to these directors prior to associate dean of the faculty and Curriculum Committee approval. Contact the appropriate director for specific program proposal submission deadlines.