General Guidelines for Proposals

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) has been the voice of liberal education for over 80 years. At the end of the 1980s it inaugurated the project "Liberal Learning and the Arts and Sciences Major." The undergraduate experience was analyzed from many perspectives by a national panel and twelve national societies. A strongly learner-oriented, liberal arts view emerged. A number of departments at the College of Charleston have participated in a self-examination known as "Re-Forming the Major." The Committee on Curriculum and Academic Planning has adopted the AACU's framework for program review (Program Review and Educational Quality in the Major) as its guide for considering new programs (majors or degrees), new concentrations, new minors and any major revisions of the aforesaid. The committee's deliberations will be focused by such questions as the following:

1. What are the goals, objectives and intended outcomes of the program?
2. How do the beginning, middle and end of the curriculum develop the goal objectives and intended outcomes of the program?
3. How are the goals and the intended outcome of the program made clear to the students?
4. Are the program goals linked to specific courses (as manifested, for example, in syllabi)?
5. Do the courses in the major provide depth and perspective in a context that will enhance the liberal education of the students? Conversely, is the selection of the courses so narrow and specialized that the major interferes with rather than enhances liberal education?

Starting 2012-2013, all new or changed major programs must conform to these guidelines:

• All proposals for new majors and change of majors are expected to include a demonstration that a student can meet the requirements for graduation in 4 years.

• All proposals for new majors and change of majors that affect the minimum number of hours, must include the minimum and should justify their size.  

  (Approved Senate March, 2012 meeting)