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General Function
As defined by the Academic Senate
Constitution, the Curriculum Committee is a subcommittee of the Academic
Senate and is responsible for all
matters relating to NHU curricula. It is the general function of the
Curriculum Committee to make specific recommendations to the Senate
on all curricular proposals presented to the committee. This includes
all program degrees; distribution of correct forms; new program proposals
and existing program modifications; upper division, lower division and
graduate level courses offered; new course development; course outlines;
course content; assignment of course numbers; number of contact
hours and/or credit given; prerequisites; course cancellations;
student learning objectives; methods of instruction; course assessment;
catalog descriptions and catalog updates; placement and challenge exams;
and curriculum archiving.
Membership of the Curriculum
Committee
Officers of the Curriculum
Committee
The Chair of the Curriculum
Committee is elected by the Faculty Senate for a post of one academic
year. The office is filled at the same time as elections for Faculty
Senate offices. The Senate also elects a Curriculum Committee Secretary
for one year to keep the meeting minutes. The office is filled at the
same time as elections for Faculty Senate offices. Both the Chair and
the Secretary of the Curriculum Committee are also members of the Executive
Committee of the Faculty Senate.
Voting Members:
The Faculty Senate may constitute
itself a committee of the whole whenever it convenes as the Curriculum
Committee, or it may, by majority vote, choose to create a smaller committee
as need and circumstances dictate. The pertinent articles that apply
to defining voting membership for the Faculty Senate, as found in the
Faculty Senate Constitution and By-Laws, will apply to voting membership
for the Curriculum Committee as well.
Currently, the Curriculum Committee
has 7 voting members, including the Chair and the Secretary, that are
both full-time and adjunct faculty members. These members are approved
by the Senate body and must all be present for the Curriculum Committee
to vote on an issue and recommend Senate approval.
Meetings Schedule
The Curriculum Committee is
not a proactive committee and therefore only meets when presented with
curriculum review or curriculum development projects. On average, the
Curriculum Committee meets about every two months to review and develop
curriculum and curriculum changes. Historically, the Curriculum Committee
met before the Senate meeting, but due to efficiency issues, in 2005
the committee began to hold meetings separate from the Senate meetings.
This enabled both meetings to run more efficiently and effectively.
Curriculum Proposal Pathway
All curriculum proposals must
be initiated by an academic department or from the Academic Senate.
It is the responsibility of the departmental committee to obtain and
complete all necessary curriculum forms before the proposals are presented
to the Curriculum Committee. These forms include; New Program Proposals,
Program Modifications, New Course Proposals, Course Modifications, Course
Outline, Course Updates, and Catalog Update White-Sheets. When the department
is satisfied with the proposal and all forms have been complete, the
Department Chair must submit the entire proposal the Curriculum Committee
chair for review and initial feedback. The proposal is then submitted
to the entire Curriculum Committee for review. The Curriculum Committee
then works with the department to modify the proposal to meet NHU curricula
standards. After review and recommendations the Curriculum Committee
can then reject the proposal, send it back to the department for more
work, or approve the proposal for presentation to the Academic Senate.
If approved, all documents and forms related to the proposal must be
submitted electronically to the Curriculum Committee Secretary for archival.
The Curriculum Committee Chair then presents the proposal to the Senate
for consideration and voting. The Senate then has the right to reject
the proposal, send it back to the Curriculum Committee for more work,
or approve the proposal as is. Once the proposal is approved, the chair
of the Curriculum Committee is required to obtain all the necessary
signatures before the proposal can be implemented. These include the
Department Chair making the request, the Chair of the Curriculum Committee,
the Chair of the Academic Senate, the Provost, and the President.
After all signatures have been obtained, the Department Chair is required
to fill out a ‘White-Sheet’ explaining the proposal/ modification
which is then given to the Registrar who updates FX Scholar and it is
given to the Chair of the University Catalog to ensure that the next
catalog is updated. Once this is complete, and the White-Sheets have
been filed with the Registrar, the Chair of the Curriculum Committee
must archive all hardcopies of relevant documentation with signatures,
uploaded softcopies to the ‘N” drive, and must notify the office
of OIPE.
Work completed between fall
2002-fall 2006
Since the fall semester of 2003,
the faculty led Curriculum Committee has approved two new undergraduate
programs that include an A.A. degree in Early Childhood Education with
three embedded certificates that include, Child Development Assistant,
Child Development Associate, and Child Development Teacher and an A.S.
degree in Mathematics and Science with an optional emphasis in Engineering.
The Committee approved a General Option Liberal Studies Major with emphases
in Chicano/Latino Studies and Cross Cultural Studies for non-credential
track students and approved the Teacher Education Department to offer
a Single Subject Teaching Credential in the areas of Mathematics, History/Social
Science, Science, Language Arts, P.E., Art, and Spanish.
The Curriculum Committee also
reviewed and modified all existing academic programs based on external
reviews, assessment, CTC directives, and WASC recommendations, re-aligned
the GE curriculum to match the CSU G.E. Breadth pattern, created 61
new courses, and worked on 108 course modifications. All work was approved
by both the Curriculum Committee and the Academic Senate and has been
incorporated into the University Catalog. (See attachment)
Organizational Flow Chart
of NHU and the Curriculum Committee
President of the University
President’s Council
Faculty Senate
Curriculum Committee
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