This page is provided to help guide members of the CHS community through the process of preparing CIM proposals, specifically from the perspective of the Undergraduate Academic Committee (UAC).

Program Proposals

These can be new programs, changes to existing ones, or program suspensions/closures. Most of the items below only apply to the first two situations. 

• Programs with concentrations must have a “common core” of at least 23 credits that are shared between them (this is 25% of the 90 credits that are outside of the gen ed curriculum). The courses must be identical to count as the common core and cannot include general education courses.
• All program proposals (new or changes) must include programmatic learning outcomes (PLOs)
  • These must be included for the first time for new programs
  • For program changes, please confirm that the PLOs are up to date with those in the bulletin. If the program wants to update the PLOs specifically, that would be done via a program change proposal.
  • For programs with concentrations, all must have a common set of PLOs and a minimum of one concentration-specific PLO.
• All programs must have a plan of study. This is an example of how a student could complete the degree program. It is not the only way possible.
• Program suspension - this is used to prevent additional students from entering into a degree program or minor. It is used to prepare the program (including minors) for closure (see below), allowing current students in the program time to complete their requirements and graduate.
• Program closure - this is used to permanently close a program (including minors). This cannot be done until there are no longer active students in the program. To help prepare for a closure, first suspend the program to prevent additional students from declaring the major/minor. 

Course Proposals

These can be new courses, changes to existing courses, or course inactivations. Most of the items below only apply to the first two situations. 

• All course proposals (new or changes) must include course level learning outcomes and designate how they align with the programmatic learning outcomes (PLOs). PLOs in the course proposals must match the PLOs exactly as they are in the bulletin (or an existing program proposal that updates the PLOs).
  • These must be included for the first time for new courses
  • For course changes, please confirm that the PLOs are up to date with those in the bulletin. If the program wants to update the PLOs specifically, that would be done via a program change proposal (see above).
• New courses must have an example syllabus attached to the proposal in CIM. This needs to include:
  • The course number and title*
  • The course description*
  • The learning outcomes*
  • A schedule of topics discussed
  • Assessments/assignments
  • Grading scale

* These must be in the syllabus exactly as they are entered into the respective fields of CIM. If the editor precheck makes edits to the CIM form for these areas, the syllabus needs to be updated.

• If a new course is required for a degree program OR specifically listed as an elective, it needs to be added to the program via a program change proposal (see above).
• Course inactivations - this is the equivalent of a course deletion. Justification needs to be provided to inactivate a course. Several things may be impacted by a course inactivation:
  • If the course is specifically listed as a requirement or elective for a program, the program must be modified via a program change proposal (see above) to remove the inactivated course from that program.
  • If the course is listed as a prerequisite, corequisite, etc., the affected course must be modified via a course change proposal to remove the inactivated course. 

Letters of Support

Letters of support are helpful when units rely on the course efforts of another unit. These can be written via email, saved as a PDF, and attached to the CIM proposal form.

• If a course is cross-listed with another unit(s), any changes to that course (including inactivations or removal of the cross-listing) should be accompanied by a letter of support from the unit(s) with the cross-listing.
• If a course is specifically listed as a requirement or elective for a program in another unit(s), any changes to that course should be accompanied by a letter of support from the affected unit(s).
• If a program specifically lists another unit’s course as a requirement or elective, the other unit should offer a letter of support for their course to be used in another program.

What happens after a proposal has been submitted in CIM?

There are several layers of review/approval once a proposal has been submitted into CIM. It is important to be aware of the various curriculum committee deadlines.

• The first layer of review is the editor precheck, which edits your proposal to standardize it with respect to the format in place for the bulletin. This includes standard bulletin language for things like course descriptions, prerequisites, and removal of the “Oxford comma.” If there are major issues or things missing, the proposal will be rolled back to the initiator (you).
• Your proposal then gets routed to the appropriate committees, like REAL, Gen Ed, etc., when applicable (these have their own formal review processes, some of which require review and approval from these committees prior to submitting a CIM proposal). These committees may ask for more information, roll back, or approve your proposal to advance to the next group.
• Eventually, the proposal will reach the department/unit’s curriculum committee, followed by the department chair. Following approval from the latter, the proposal will enter the UAC queue. From the time a proposal is submitted into CIM, it generally takes 1-2 weeks to go through all of the layers of approval before reaching UAC, but it will take longer if the proposal needs to be reviewed by REAL, Gen Ed, etc.
• Once in the UAC queue, the proposal will get added to the next UAC meeting’s agenda, as long as that is at least two weeks away.
  • UAC members receive their proposal review assignments roughly one week prior to the UAC meeting. Reviewers (and/or the UAC chair) may reach out to you, the proposal initiator, directly prior to the meeting to gather additional information. A prompt reply on your behalf is appreciated so that the proposal can be adequately presented to the committee. 
• Assuming the proposal is approved by UAC, it will advance to UUCC, which has similar deadlines of at least two weeks in advance of the next meeting. 
• Changes for the FOLLOWING academic year must be approved by UUCC during their December meeting (e.g., December 2022 for implementation in the 2023-24 academic year), which means they must be approved by UAC by their mid-November meeting.