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Curricular Proposals: Minors, Certificates, Majors, and Degrees

All curricular proposals should be reviewed carefully in the department before being forwarded to the College. Some proposals may be implemented after approval by the department and the College. Reviews of these proposals are normally completed within one semester, although new requirements cannot be applied until they are published in the Bulletin of the College of Arts and Sciences or its Supplement. In practice, this means that a year will elapse between the time of proposal and its implementation. Other proposals will require additional levels of approval. For example, new minors go on to the Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) for review by the Campus Curriculum Committee and recommendation to the Provost, with whose approval these items are then implemented. New certificates and degrees undergo that same review, then go from the Provost to the Academic Leadership Council and the Board of Trustees, and, depending on their content, to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE). Currently the Board of Trustees plans to review new degree proposals only in March and October of each year. For proposals that will ultimately need to be reviewed by ICHE, see the ICHE Web site for further information, especially http://www.in.gov/che/files/program_guidelines.pdf.  

If another unit outside the College asks you to lend support for a curricular proposal, please copy robinso @ indiana.edu (Jean C. Robinson)  (Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education) or catyp @ astro.indiana.edu (Catherine A. Pilachowski)  (Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Program Development) on all correspondence so that the appropriate Associate Dean will be informed and able to respond.

• New Minors
• Existing Majors or Degree Programs
• New Majors or New Degrees
• New Interdepartmental Majors
• Certificate Programs

Minors
Department Chairs or Program Directors may propose new minors or seek changes in existing minors by submitting a proposal to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. New minors must be approved by the Committee for Undergraduate Education (CUE) before going forward to the VPUE (see above). Routine changes in existing minors may be approved by the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, but extensive changes will require additional approval. An application form for proposing a new minor is available here . Please contact jhacker @ indiana.edu (June Hacker)  if you have questions about how to answer any of the questions on the form.

Please note the following guidelines for minors:

• A minor must consist of 15 or more credit hours in College of Arts and Sciences courses.
• Students must meet residency requirements and grade minima in minors.
• Unless the numbering structure of the department has precluded it, recent proposals for minors have been expected to include 6–9 credit hours at the upper level (300–400 level).
• Courses taken to satisfy the English composition requirement may not be applied toward a minor requirement.

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Existing Majors
Department Chairs or Program Directors may request changes in existing majors (B.A.) or degree programs (B.S.) by submitting a proposal to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. As is the case for minors, routine modifications to majors (for example, incorporating new course numbers) are approved by the Associate Dean, but extensive changes must be approved by CUE and possibly by the Provost. New tracks within an existing major or degree program can also be proposed to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and will go to CUE for approval before going forward to the campus level. Because proposed changes to majors or degree programs can have vastly different layers of complexity, there is no one form that departments are required to use. For examples of the kinds of questions that may be relevant, see the various proposal forms in the back of this booklet. If you have any questions regarding what information your department needs to submit, please contact June Hacker.

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New Majors/New Degree Programs
A new major or degree program requires more extensive approval than minors or interdepartmental majors. A department that has decided to propose a new major or degree program should notify the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. You will find an application form for proposing a new major or degree program here . Please contact June Hacker if you have questions about how to answer any of the questions on the form. The Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Kirkwood Hall 012, (855-1647), can act as a liaison to appropriate offices as a new undergraduate degree program is developed.

Once a department’s faculty has created a formal proposal, the Chair or Program Director should send it for review to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. After consulting with the department and requesting necessary revisions, the Associate Dean will then send the proposal on to the Committee for Undergraduate Education of the College of Arts and Sciences. Favorable recommendations by that committee are presented to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. If approved by the Dean, the proposal will need to go to the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education for review by the Campus Curriculum Committee and a recommendation to the Provost, and then to the Academic Leadership Council, the Board of Trustees, and the ICHE. Information about the format required by the ICHE for “New Academic Program Proposals” is available on the Web . It is not unusual for two to three years to elapse from the time of proposal to that of official notice of authorization.

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New Interdepartmental Majors
Department Chairs or Program Directors may jointly propose a new interdepartmental major within the College of Arts and Sciences by submitting the relevant from and supporting information to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. After consulting with the departments and requesting necessary revisions, the Associate Dean will then send the proposal to the Committee for Undergraduate Education (CUE) of the College of Arts and Sciences. A new interdepartmental major can be approved by CUE and does not need further levels of approval. Such approval is allowed only when each department or program involved offers a major that already has the approval of ICHE. You will find an application form for proposing a new interdepartmental major here . Please contact June Hacker with questions about how to answer any of the questions on the form.

Please note the following guidelines for interdepartmental majors:

• An interdepartmental major must require a minimum of 40 credit hours.
• No interdepartmental program may require more than 62 credit hours total.
• Both departments must support the creation of the program.

Most programs divide the required course work roughly in half between the two departments, and at least 12 hours at the 300–400 level are usually required in each department.

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Certificate Programs
Proposals for new certificate programs should be sent for review to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. After consulting with the department and requesting necessary revisions, the Associate Dean will then send the proposal on to the Committee for Undergraduate Education (CUE) of the College of Arts and Sciences. Proposals that are approved by CUE will then be submitted for approval beyond the College. Certificate proposals for programs of 29 or fewer credit hours require final approval by the Board of Trustees. Certificate programs of 30 credit hours or more require the additional approval of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Although university guidelines list a minimum of 12 credit hours, certificate programs recently approved by the College have required 24–28 credit hours. Please note that the required credit hours must include any necessary prerequisites.  Finally, the courses included in any proposal for a new certificate program should primarily be ones already taught in the university.

In the College, certificates can be awarded only to students who are completing or have completed a bachelor’s degree. For a student to earn a certificate, he or she must undertake a course of study that goes beyond—in significant ways—his or her major(s). That is, a student cannot obtain a certificate merely by completing the requirements for his or her major (or by adding an additional course or two). 

You will find an application form for proposing a new certificate program here . Please contact June Hacker with questions about how to answer any of the questions on the form.  

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