OFFICIAL
Policy and Procedure Statement 2.01
Courses: Additions, Changes and Deletions
Revised: 12/05
(36 paragraphs)
Review Cycle: Sept. 1, ONY
Review Date: 9/1/2007
Reviewer: Curriculum Coordinator

GENERAL INFORMATION
  1. Texas State University-San Marcos is committed to maintaining an effective process for curricular development. This PPS provides guidance for adding, changing or deleting courses and is intended to help insure the academic integrity of curricular development.
  2. When considering the addition, change, or deletion of a course, program chairs/department chairs/school directors and college deans should consult the faculty members in the program/department/school and in other related programs, and if necessary, with outside experts. Efforts shall be made at each level to ensure against a proliferation of courses beyond the ability of the program/department/school to offer such courses.
  3. Courses are added, changed or deleted on an annual cycle. The Annual Course Cycle Calendar Attachment A includes a faculty and administrative review according to the timelines established by the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System (BOR) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).
DEFINITIONS
  1. All courses are published in the university catalogs after the reviews are completed and approved as described in paragraph 19 of this PPS. A catalog course listing has three main parts: a number, a title, and a description. New course numbers are obtained from the Director of Curriculum Services in the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (Director) in order to ensure a non-duplicated number.
  2. Existing courses that require more than a 50% change in the description and content should be given a new number. If a change in course number or prefix is necessary, the old course must be deleted and a new course added. THECB requires that course number and/or prefix changes be submitted as additions and deletions.
  3. Course titles should be succinct. In Attachment B, the title must be abbreviated to no more than eighteen (18) characters. If the title of a course remains unchanged while other parts of the course change, the full title should appear as the “Current Title” on Attachment B. If all three parts need to be changed, or if the title or description is to be changed significantly, the course must be deleted and a new course added.
  4. All courses are assigned a Texas Classification for Instructional Program (CIP) code which corresponds to the subject matter of the course and determines the rate of formula funding. CIP codes reflect the content of the course and not the degree program or the administrative unit in which the course is offered. Texas CIP codes are an extension of the national coding system and are defined in a manual published by the U.S. Department of Education available on the THECB website at: http://www.txhighereddata.org/Interactive/CIP/.
  5. All courses are also categorized according to the primary type of instruction. Instruction type is defined as: 1=Lecture, 2=Lab, 3=Clinical/Practicum/Internship/Student Teaching, 4=Seminar, 5=Independent Study, 6=Private Lesson, 8=Thesis, 9=Dissertation, 10=Individualized. Organized courses are identified as types 1, 2, or 4. Only one code per course may be selected.
  6. Contact hours are defined as the clock hours spent each week in the instruction process, i.e., 3-2 in the course catalog immediately following the course title means 3 hours per week in lecture and 2 hours per week in the laboratory. Laboratory contact hours are the number of hours per week students are required to spend in contact with teaching staff in a laboratory situation, e.g., clinical, practicum, internship, student teaching. Lecture contact hours are the hours per week students are required to spend in contact with teaching staff in a lecture, e.g., class, conference, seminar, individual instruction, private lesson, thesis or dissertation discussion, or independent study. Contact hours are not to be confused with course credit hours or workload credit hours.
  7. Courses that are repeatable for credit are those that allow for all earned grades and credit hours to be included in the grade point calculation.
  8. Topics courses are temporary lecture or seminar courses taught under a single prefix and number, and are distinguished with an individual suffix (letters A-Z). Topics courses provide a format for offering a variety of courses often with differing subject matters, and often representing different discipline categories. Topics courses are designed to determine the appropriateness and applicability of the subject matter. Any particular topics course successfully taught three times within a five-year period must be assigned a new course number and submitted as a new course proposal. To establish a topics course, a header course must be first proposed with a single prefix and number. The header course serves as a filter to report the individual topics courses to the THECB. Header courses require completion of Attachment B only. The header course is never taught; only topics courses are. Proposals for new header courses must be accompanied by at least two proposed individual topics courses. Like all proposed additions, individual topics course proposals require completion of Attachments B and C.
  9. In the event that all available topics (letters A-Z) under an approved header course have been exhausted, a new header course proposal may be submitted to the appropriate College Curriculum Committee, but only if the added course's title and description exactly duplicate those of the course whose topics have been exhausted and if accompanied by at least one fully developed individual topics course proposal. If approved, such course proposals will be routed first to the College Dean and then to the Director of Curriculum Services.
  10. Writing Intensive courses are those for which at least 65% of the student's grade must be based on writing. Assignments must include at least one piece of writing containing a minimum of 500 words.
  11. Cross-referenced courses are courses that count as repeats of each other in grade point calculations and degree audits. These can be inactive or active courses. If course additions are proposed as replacements for deleted courses, then the course addition proposal should include the deleted course as a cross-reference.
  12. Valid grades are defined in PPS 4.07. Those include the common letter grades of “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, and “F”, and other letter grades of “I”, “CR”, “PR” and “W”.
  13. Faculty, school directors and chairs may obtain the appropriate course forms from the attachments in this PPS. All forms are downloadable as Word templates. Attachment E provides detailed instructions for the completion of course forms. Failure to complete the necessary forms properly may cause a delay in the review process.

COURSE PROPOSALS
  1. A course addition proposal requires completion of the Course Inventory Form Attachment B and the Supplementary Course Information Form Attachment C, and if applicable, the Writing Intensive Form Attachment D. All of the required fields on the Course Inventory Form and the Supplementary Course Information Form must be completed in the designated sequence. Course addition proposals that do not involve more than a number and/or prefix change do not require the Supplementary Course Information Form.
  2. A course change proposal requires completion of the Course Inventory Form Attachment B. Course change proposals must include items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 (prefix and number only), 8, and 18, and other items which are requested to be changed. Course change proposals do not require a Supplementary Course Information. Course change proposals that affect programs/departments/schools outside the originating college must be accompanied with concurrence memos from the affected area, i.e. prerequisites outside the college or course descriptions that overlap content outside the college.
  3. A course deletion proposal must include items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 (prefix and number), 8 and 18 on Attachment B. Courses untaught as organized courses (lecture, lab and seminar) for three consecutive years will be automatically deleted in the absence of a justification for retention. THECB will furnish reports of untaught courses to Texas State which are distributed to each dean with instructions for retaining/ or deleting courses. Courses deleted on the untaught report do not require completion of Attachment B.
PROPOSAL ROUTING

  1. Course proposals must be submitted for review through the following channels:
    1. Program/Department/School Faculty
    2. Program Chair/Department Chair/School Director
    3. College Curriculum Committee (CCC)
    4. College Council
    5. College Dean
    6. Other College Deans
    7. Dean of The Graduate College (if applicable)
    8. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (for preliminary review)
    9. University Curriculum Committee (UCC)
    10. Faculty Senate (informational report from Chair of UCC)
    11. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (for final recommendation)
    12. Texas State University System Board of Regents (BOR)
    13. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)
  1. Program Chairs/Department Chairs/School/Directors will submit all course proposals to their College Dean by February for review by the College Curriculum Committee. The CCC will review all addition, change and deletion proposals. The CCC will have final authority on change proposals that do not conflict with courses in other colleges. It is the responsibility of the CCC to exercise good faith in determining the potential effect of course change proposals on other colleges and to verify that potentially affected programs/departments/schools have been notified of the proposed action with concurrence memos. In cases where change proposals may potentially overlap courses outside the originating college, the CCC will submit the change proposals to the College Dean for further review by other deans and the University Curriculum Committee. It must be understood that the proposals receiving final approval by the CCC do not affect courses outside of the originating college and that the Inventory Form is completed correctly.
  2. The CCC will submit all approved course proposals and meeting minutes to the College Dean. The Dean will prepare the following summaries of actions:
    • a final summary of actions taken by the CCC on course changes. The final CCC summary is submitted to the Director for processing with BOR and for inclusion in the catalog/addendum.
    • a preliminary UCC summary of actions necessary on all additions and deletions, and other possible changes that may affect other colleges. See paragraph 23 for timeline and distribution.
  3. In February, the College Council will review all additions, deletions and any change proposals necessary for review by the UCC.
  4. By the first working day in March, the originating dean will circulate the preliminary UCC summary of the approved proposals to the Provost and to other academic deans and to the Dean of the Graduate College , if applicable. Each dean will provide copies of all summary reports to the chairs and school directors in their college. Comments from deans, chairs, and school directors must be submitted within four weeks to the originating dean. Chairs and school directors should submit their comments through their deans. The Director will combine all college summaries into one preliminary UCC summary and submit to the Chair of the UCC and the Chair of the Faculty Senate for distribution to all faculty. The preliminary UCC summary is intended to serve as a notification of proposed course activity to faculty, chairs, school directors, and deans. Faculty should submit their comments on the preliminary UCC summary to their college dean.
  5. After receiving comments from other deans, the originating dean will either approve or deny a proposal. In either case, the dean should promptly inform the chair or director of the affected school/department/program of the decision. By the first working day in April, the originating dean will circulate a final UCC summary of all proposals approved to the Director for review by the Provost and to other academic deans. The Director will combine all college summaries into one final UCC summary and submit to the Provost for review and to the Faculty Senate for distribution to all faculty.
  6. The originating dean will submit all course proposals for signature to the Director by the first working day in April. The Director will submit the proposals for graduate courses to the Dean of the Graduate College at the necessary time.
  7. The Director will review all proposals for compliance with applicable rules and regulations, and will secure preliminary approval of the course proposals from the Provost, and then send the proposals and the final UCC summary to the UCC by the first class day in August.
  8. The UCC will meet in mid-September to review all proposals. The Director will publish and distribute the meeting agenda two weeks in advance. Chairs, school directors or their designated representatives are strongly encouraged to attend UCC meetings at which their proposals are considered. In their deliberations, the UCC will address issues such as possible duplication of course content and the quality of the course proposal. The Director will inform the academic deans of all decisions/recommendations from the UCC. The deans should then inform the chairs and school directors.
  9. The dean will respond to the UCC's recommendations, in writing by late September with any corrections or revisions to the proposals.
  10. The Chair of the UCC will provide an informational report to the Faculty Senate on all course proposals.
  11. The Director will submit a report of approved proposals to the Provost and, the Provost will either approve or deny the course proposals. If the Provost denies a proposal, the originating dean and the Provost will discuss the request and decide the next steps.
  12. With Provost approval, the Director will submit a report of approved proposals to the Vice President for Finance and Support Services (VPFSS) for inclusion in the board orders for BOR review according to the published deadlines.
  13. The Director will transmit all proposals approved by BOR to the THECB according to the published deadlines.
  14. Throughout the process, the Director will report all decisions to the deans, who will in turn notify the chairs or school directors submitting the proposal.
  15. After a proposal has been fully approved, the Director will make all necessary additions, changes and deletions in the undergraduate catalog or addendum during the next regular catalog cycle. The Dean of the Graduate College will make all necessary additions, changes and deletions in the graduate catalog or addendum.
  16. The Director will make all necessary additions, changes and deletions in the Texas State and THECB course inventories.
CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

This PPS has been approved by the reviewer listed below and represents Texas State's Division of Academic Affairs policy and procedure from the date of this document until superceded.

Review Cycle: _____________________________ Review Date: _______________________
Reviewer: ________________________________ Date: _____________________________
Approved: ________________________________ Date: _____________________________
  Perry Moore  
  Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs  
 
Texas State University-San Marcos
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Last Updated: January 11, 2006
Send comments and questions to: sm42@txstate.edu