Faculty & Staff
Submission Guidelines
(a) New Programs
Any addition of a new major program requires additional approval beyond the Salem State College internal governance process. See the document PROCESS FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROGRAM REQUESTS TO THE BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION for details.
1. An 'intent to plan' form for a new program (degree, certificate, etc.) may be submitted at any time for review. Forms are available in the Academic Affairs Office. 'Intent to plan' does not go through the governance process.
2. The program proposal itself does go through the governance process.
(b).Courses
All proposals concerning new courses, changes in existing courses, or deletion of courses go through the governance process outlined in 1 - 16 above, but only as far as the President of the College. The same is true of new or revised minors and concentrations, and revisions of existing majors.
1. Proposals for new courses must be submitted on the 'Request for New Course form and must include all of the following information: course number, full title, abbreviated title (for use in the Master Schedule; limited to 30 characters, including spaces and punctuation), credits, course description exactly as it is to appear in the College Catalog (including prerequisites and co-requisites identified by course number only), uses of the course (e.g., required major course, distribution, free elective, "Q", "V", "W" etc.), number of meeting hours (including lectures, laboratories, discussion sections, studio hours, etc.). The request form must be signed by the Chair of the sponsoring department, and must be dated. A course syllabus and bibliography must be attached to the request forms. Course numbers must be checked against the Historical Course File with the Office of Student Records & Registrar. If the course would affect the curriculum of any department other than the sponsoring one, a statement from each such affected department must be attached to the proposal. [See the attached Course Description Policy for additional details.].
2. Proposals for insignificant changes in existing courses must be submitted on the 'request for Change in Existing Course' form and should indicate clearly what features are being changed, and why. If the change(s) would affect the curriculum of any department other than the sponsoring one, an appropriate statement from that department should be included.
3. Requests for deletion of courses that impact departments other than the sponsoring department should indicate the reason for deletion, with appropriate statements from other departments affected by the deletion. A request for reinstatement of a deleted course will be treated as a request for a new course, and is subject to the guidelines set forth in (b).1. above.
4. (I)Any person, group or department requesting a change in curriculum which affects any other department must inform, in writing, any and all departments which will feel the effect of the proposed change.
(II) The department affected by the change must respond in writing within a reasonable time before the Curriculum Committee acts on the proposed changes. However, failure to respond will not preclude Curriculum Committee action on the matter.
(III) The Course Review Subcommittee representative assigned to this matter will verify that the above steps have been taken before forwarding the materials to the Course Review Subcommittee. The proposal will be reviewed by the Course Review Subcommittee . Members of the sponsoring Department will be invited to attend. The Sponsoring Department is responsible for making the recommended changes and revisions and getting them to the Academic Affairs Administrative Assistant by noon one week prior to the Curriculum Committee Meeting. A representative from the Course Review Subcommittee will present the proposal to the Committee as a whole.
8. SUBMISSION DATES AND DEADLINES
All proposals submitted to the Curriculum Committee must contain an effective implementation date. Lead-time for implementing new course offerings is specified in the following resolution adopted by the All-College Committee on June 16, 1981:
"…that in order for a new course to be offered in the Spring semester, that course must receive presidential approval by the prior June 30th , and that to be offered in the Fall semester, a course must have presidential approval by the prior December 31st"
The same deadlines will apply to changes in existing courses and to course deletions. For changes deemed to be insignificant or corrective, the changes will need to be approved and forwarded to the Office of Student Records & Registrar by the deadline dates established in the original policy of the All-College Committee.
In order for the Curriculum Committee to act on a proposal during the current academic year, the proposal must be in the hands of the Committee by the appropriate deadline given below:
November 1-A. For effective following September 1 all changes that will appear in the next catalog (Catalog Revision years odd numbered years)
November 1-B. All changes to be in effect following September 1.
February 1- Proposals for new degrees, new major programs, and extensive revisions of existing programs;
March 1- requests for new courses, changes in existing courses, and course deletions to be effective the following January 1;
April 1- all other curriculum actions.
Materials received by the Committee after these deadlines will be considered as time permits. The Committee cannot guarantee that it will take action on all proposals submitted by the above dates; this will depend on the quantity of the proposals submitted.
Items not considered in one academic year will be carried to the next academic year with the same tracking number.
