1. The Curriculum Process at NKU
Richard Fox
Chair, UCC
Department of Computer Science

2. Changing The Curriculum at NKU
Curriculum changes are
new courses, course changes, course deletions
course changes include any or all of changing hours, description, title, designator/number, SLOs, prereq/coreqs, grade type, repeatability, cross-listing courses
note: these changes require curriculog forms but are not considered curricular changes: SAP type, change to ACT/SAT scores that serve as partial prereqs, terms offered
program (majors, minors, certificates) changes, deletions
program changes include changing program name, description, hours, required courses, admissions standards, learning outcomes, adding or removing courses to explicit lists of electives, adding or removing tracks
new programs (majors, minors, certificates)
note: “Focus” is not specified as curriculum so there is no submission of “changes to” or “a new” Focus, students select the courses that make up a Focus
general education program changes (these are made by the Gen Ed Committee, not a department or college)

3. Curriculum Process Parties involved in the process are
Departmental faculty (original proposal, department curriculum committee if any, program director if necessary, full department, department chair)
most departments have all faculty vote on changes, some departments leave it to a specific curriculum committee, some do both
Library liaison (new courses only)
TEC (if applicable)
College curriculum committee
Dean’s office (usually the associate dean)
Graduate Council (if applicable)
UCC
Faculty Senate (new programs, substantive program changes, gen ed program changes)
Provost’s office (via the Vice Provost)
CPE and Board (new programs only)
Registrar (non-voting)

4. Curriculum Policies Program-level
major is a degree conferring program
consisting of at least 30 credit hours
exists within a department (or a college)
cross-disciplinary degrees are permissible but it must still be housed somewhere
minor consists of at least 18 hours, often 21 (or more)
focus consists of 12 upper level hours within one discipline (note: a focus is selected by the student)
certificate programs typically consist of hours and can either be undergraduate ( level) or graduate (500+)
note: 500 level classes are often treated as undergraduate/graduate but in some departments, they are graduate-only
Undergraduate student graduation requirements
a major
fulfilling all requirements from the general education program
a secondary area which is either a second major, a minor, or a focus
at least 45 hours at the 3xx/4xx level
300/400/500 level courses all require prerequisites

5. Special Course Numbers
Some course numbers are reserved for special types of courses
X91 for thesis coursework
X92 for research courses
X93 for seminar courses
X94 for topics courses
X95 for study abroad topics courses
X96 for practicum
X97 for portfolio/presentation courses
X99 for independent studies/directed readings
X90 and X98 are reserved for future use
These courses are usually the only ones that can be repeated for additional credit
you can restrict the number of hours earned toward a degree such as “no more than 6 hours of combined x92 and x99 may count toward the degree in computer science”
courses may be grandfathered into their number in case you have courses that don’t meet the numbering scheme, but new courses will not be permitted if they misuse these numbers

6. The General Education Program
All general education (GE) courses must fit into a category by fulfilling all of the student learning outcomes (SLO) for that category
A GE course can fit into two categories if one of those categories is Global Perspectives
All GE courses are to be assessed
A course new to GE must be approved as such by both the Gen Ed committee and UCC
If the course is brand new, it also requires approval by the UCC as a new course
Course changes for Gen Ed courses require approval by the Gen Ed committee and UCC
Changes to the GE program require approval by the Gen Ed committee, UCC, and Faculty Senate

7. Exceptions to the Curriculum Process
The following require approval by only the department chair and UCC chair
X92/X99 course creation and course changes
Course term change
SAP type change
Creation of honors section of existing course (Gen Ed honors courses require approval of Gen Ed committee)
Moving an existing program on-line (this also requires Dean’s approval and approval of Provost’s office)
Changes to the departmental or college portion of the catalog (i.e., the narrative sections) do not require approval through the curriculum process
In the past, we have automatically deleted courses that have not been offered in at least 5 years, we discontinued this practice a few years ago but could bring it back
note: the department is given the option of having a course deleted or retained

8. Curriculog
Our curriculum change software, ties in with Acalog (the catalog software)
interface through your web browser
forms for different types of operations
course change
new course
course deletion
gen ed course re-certification
gen ed program change
new gen ed course/remove course from gen ed program
program change (major/track/minor/certificate)
program deletion (major/track/minor/certificate)
mass course change
new program notification of intent and preproposal
new program full proposal
new minor or track
moving existing program online

9. Curriculog Continued
Program and course change forms populate from Acalog (the catalog) so proposers only need to edit the changes they want to make
All changes require:
justification, in some forms, justification is more elaborate
narrative explaining the changes (if they are complex)
course changes require an impact report (what other programs and courses are impacted) and a memorandum of understanding
this is an , attached to the form, that explains to all impacted departments the changes being proposed
program changes require an impact report (does the change impact articulation agreements)?

10. Workflow
As a proposal works through the system, you can keep track of where it is in the workflow
Members of various committees and in administrative roles will be part of the approval process where they can
approve, reject, send back to originator
usually the chair of the committee makes this decision on behalf of the entire committee
All university faculty and staff have access to curriculog and can view proposals and track proposals
After logging in, you can submit your own proposal and post comments on others’ proposals
When you log in, your “task list” shows what proposals are waiting for you to review
Bi-weekly s are sent by Curriculog to update you on changes made to proposals you should be aware of
When an item is waiting for your decision, you can edit it – thus if you find mistakes, you can make the updates yourself
All updates can be tracked to see who made the update

11. Curriculum Change Timeline
Faculty are free to submit UCC forms at any time
changes should be approved first by the department (or department curriculum committee)
after chair approval, items go to TEC or college curriculum committee, college meetings vary
CoAS – every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month
CoEHS – every 2nd Wednesday (in conjunction with TEC)
CoB, CoHP, CoI – meet as needed
graduate items go to Grad Council (2nd Thursday)
UCC meets 1st and 3rd Thursdays
Faculty Senate meets 3rd or 4th Monday
The timeline to make it through the process varies by type of submission
Graduate items, items for TEC, take more time
New programs take a lot more time

12. Keeping Track of Items
The time it takes to make it through the process can be as little as 2-3 weeks or as much as 12 months (new programs)
Items can also be held at any level and take weeks to get through
Items can be returned to the proposer for changes
the originator of the proposal (or the dept chair, program director or dept UCC rep) should keep track of the proposal to make sure it is progressing
anyone can comment on a proposal, original proposers should review these as the item progresses
items are not final until they are approved by the Vice Provost (or the Board for new programs)

13. Deadlines
For the fall catalog, the deadline is to have items approved by the UCC as follows
new programs: end of February
all other changes: end of March
To determine the time when an item must be submitted to meet the deadline, work backwards
which approval levels are required? when do those bodies meet?
delayed proposals impact the time to get through, start sooner rather than later
new programs should already be in the pipeline for fall 2020 as they require a LOI, reading of the chief academic officers at CPE (monthly meeting) and a pre-proposal which is posted on CPE’s website for 30 days

14. More on the Timeline
If you are making changes that do not need to be in the catalog immediately, items can be approved for spring and summer terms
new courses for instance can be offered before being placed in the catalog
course changes can often be made before going into the catalog
program changes should never be made until they are ready for the catalog
For spring 2020, items should be through the UCC by mid October or earlier
For summer 2020, items should be through the UCC by mid March
such changes can be made to SAP within a few weeks and be ready for the next semester

15. Questions?
About the curriculum process, curriculog or a curriculum issue: contact Richard Fox 5334)
About what is currently stored in SAP or a mistake found in SAP: contact Beth Vasquez 5159)
About acalog or erroneous content in the catalog: contact Brett Mueller 6619)
For the Registrar: contact Alan Cole 5225)
About SACS or program review/assessment: contact Abdou Ndoye 5379)
About CPE or other undergraduate policy questions: Ande Durojaiye 5379)
About graduate policy issues: contact Christian Gamm 6364) or Samantha Langley 7567)
About curriculog or acalog access or curriculog errors or issues: Connie Kiskaden 6567)