Part 1. General Information on Curricular Procedures

Curricular procedures facilitate the movement of curricular proposals into legislative action, the e-Campus Scheduling System, and the University Catalog. Faculty, department chairs, and college curriculum committees are asked to ensure the completeness and accuracy of curricular proposals. Accurate information is critical to the catalog, course scheduling, course scheduling, advising, and admissions/marketing materials.

Signatures of approval verify that the information provided on a proposal is factually accurate and that all possible curricular impacts both within and outside of the originating department have been considered.

General Principles. The Curriculum and Standards Committee (CASC) reviews undergraduate curriculum matters, including proposals for courses at the 100-, 200-, 300-, and 400-levels, except in cases of General Education courses, for which the General Education Committee (GEC) performs the review. The Graduate Council (GC) processes graduate curriculum matters, including proposals for courses at the 400- (for graduate credit), 500-, 600-, and 900-levels. If a proposal for a 400-level course indicates that it is to be offered for graduate credit as well as undergraduate credit, it is processed by both the respective undergraduate curriculum committee and the Graduate Council. These review committees meet monthly and submit approved proposals to the Faculty Senate for action (approval at a Faculty Senate meeting).

Part 2. Deadlines and Timeline.

In planning for the first offering of 1) a newly proposed course, or 2) the implementation of major changes to an existing course or academic program, please be aware that the review and approval of a proposal is a multi-step process that can take several months and is not complete until the course/course change is officially listed in e-Campus or, with regard to new programs, until approval has been received from the URI Board of Trustees. All faculty have access to the Kuali Curriculum Management System for submitting a new proposal, checking the status of an existing proposal, or viewing an approved proposal. Questions regarding Kuali access and use should be directed to the Faculty Senate office.

It is advisable to think ‘a year ahead,’ i.e., proposals for a fall-semester course should be submitted early in the previous fall semester. This suggested timeline reflects the fact that courses submitted at the end of the year-I fall semester may not be listed in e-Campus before student enrollment for the year-2 fall semester begins in the middle of the year-I spring semester (see below). There may not be sufficient time for proposals submitted in the spring to be fully approved before the end of the academic year (consult the Faculty Senate website for important academic-year deadlines).

Fully approved course changes will be made in e-Campus for the subsequent semester up to, but not afte1; the start of pre-registration for that semester (on or about mid-semester). Pre-registration for the Spring semester starts in mid-October; pre-registration for the Fall semester starts in early March. Contact Enrollment Services for exact dates

Fully approved course changes to Learning Community courses for the subsequent academic year will be made in e-Campus only up to the second week of February.

Fully approved new courses and temporary courses may be added to the Course Schedule (classroom space and available meeting times permitting) up to the start of the semester in which they are to be first offered and will appear in the subsequent catalog only if officially listed in e-Campus before July 1.

Projected effective dates for proposals will be implemented as requested if the curricular approval process has been fully completed within the appropriate time to meet that deadline.

Part 3. Approval Process

A. Course Changes/Modifications: University statutes require that both new courses and changes to existing offerings be reviewed and approved prior to implementation. All proposals originate with a faculty member; non-faculty members who wish to propose adding/modifying a course must work with a faculty member to do so. Submitted proposals move to the Departmental Undergraduate or Graduate Committee for review and signature by the Department Chair or equivalent. Department-approved proposals move to the pertinent College Curriculum Committee for review. College-approved proposals move to the Faculty Senate for action. Proposals classified as “Major Changes” (see below for definitions) are reviewed by one or more of the three university-level curriculum committees (Curriculum and Standards, General Education, or the Graduate Council). Upon approval by each committee responsible for its review, the proposal becomes part of a Bill subject to review and passage by the full Faculty Senate. Proposals classified as “Minor Changes” (see below for definitions), after being checked by Faculty Senate staff for completeness, automatically become part of a Bill subject to review and approval by the full Faculty Senate. For more information on the approval process, refer to Chapter 8 of the University Manual, Part III.

Changes to an existing course fall into two categories: Minor Change and Major Change. Questions regarding whether a proposed change is major or minor shall be directed to the Faculty Senate Specialist/Staff, who will review it with the chair of the pertinent committee (CASC, GEC, or GC). The chair will communicate the decision regarding major or minor status to the proposer; their word is final. A course change proposal that contains both ‘minor’ and ‘major’ elements will be reviewed according to the major change review and approval process.

Minor change to existing course: Minor course changes involve one or more small alterations that do not substantively alter course content. These include: removing graduate credit from a 400-level course; deleting a course or modifying a course code; changing a title; changing a course from variable- to fixed-credit (as long as the fixed number is within the previously established range); modifying a credit range inside of the current range (e.g. from 3-6 credits to 3-4 credits); adding, removing or modifying a cross-listing (assuming that approval from any affected units is provided) or prerequisite; adding, removing or modifying a grading method for any courses not carrying a General Education outcome; removing a General Education Outcome; modifying the home department or college for a course; removing a modality; adding, removing or modifying the ‘repeat for credit’ provision; changing an open-ended topics course into a permanent topics course; changing an X-course into a permanent course; or changing course numbers within a hundred-level (e.g., from 201 to 202).

• Course syllabi are not generally required for minor change proposals. At any point in the review process, however, a syllabus may be requested from the proposing faculty member to facilitate effective review of the proposal.

• Minor course change proposals undergo review at the department and college level. Following approval at the college level, minor change proposals are checked by Faculty Senate staff for completeness and then become part of a Bill subject to review and passage by the full Faculty Senate. If objections are raised to a minor course change proposal prior to the Faculty Senate vote, the proposal shall be returned to the college-level committee for revision.

• A college-level committee can, at their discretion, require that a minor course change proposal also be reviewed by the pertinent University Curriculum Committee(s). Proposals selected for such review must include a syllabus, or be amended to include one, before being reviewed at the university level.

• NOTE REGARDING MINOR COURSE CHANGES: The minor course change procedure exists to provide flexibility in and development of the curriculum as disciplines, methodologies, and knowledge evolve. It is intended to streamline the approval process to help ensure the curriculum remains current. It is not intended to allow circumvention of the normal processes for proposing new courses or making major changes.

Major change to existing course: Major course changes involve significant alterations of substantive content. These include modifying the course description; modifying the number of credits; modifying a credit range outside of the current range (e.g. from 3-6 credits to 3-12 credits); adding ‘for graduate credit’ to a 400-level course; modifying the grading method of a General Education course; adding or modifying General Education Outcomes; adding, modifying, or removing a method of instruction; or changing course numbers to a new hundred-level (e.g., from 100-level to 200-level).

• Course syllabi are required for new courses and major change proposals. Major course change proposals undergo review at the department and college level. Following approval at the college level, minor change proposals are checked by Faculty Senate staff for completeness before being submitted to the pertinent University Curriculum Committee for review. Upon approval by the pertinent university-level committee(s), the proposal becomes part of a Bill subject to review and passage by the full Faculty Senate. If objections are raised to a major course change proposal prior to the Faculty Senate vote, the proposal shall be returned to the college-level committee for revision.
  

B. Changes to course modalities: A course change proposal will not be necessary if faculty/departments teaching a class in one of the three ‘in-person’ modalities (‘In-person’, ‘In-person and online asynchronous’, ‘In-person and online synchronous’) wish to adopt (or add, in the case of a multi-section class) another of the ‘in-person’ modalities.

A course change proposal will not be necessary if faculty/departments teaching a class in one of the three ‘online only’ modalities (‘Online synchronous’, ‘Online synchronous and asynchronous’, ‘Online asynchronous’) wish to adopt (or add, in the case of a multi-section class) another of the ‘online’ modalities.

A major course change proposal is necessary for courses with one of the three ‘in-person’ modalities that wish to adopt (or add, in the case of a multi-section class) one of the three ‘online only’ modalities. This is also true for ‘online only’ modality courses that wish to adopt/add an ‘in-person’ modality.”

C. New Courses: New Course proposals follow the review/approval process described under “Major Change” above.” #2025-2026-FSEC-01