Guidelines for Preparing to Change Requirements for a Major

The questions below are meant to help faculty make changes to existing majors. They derive in part from an extensive, grant-funded initiative, “Re-Forming the Major,” that the College undertook in the early 1990s. “Re-Forming the Major” was itself inspired by an exhaustive study conducted by The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) in the late 1980s, a project called Liberal Learning and the Arts and Sciences Major. The undergraduate experience was analyzed from many perspectives by a national panel and twelve national societies.

The College of Charleston’s Committee on Curriculum and Academic Planning has adopted the AACU’s framework for program review as its guide for considering revisions of the major. The Curriculum Committee recommends that during the planning phase of a proposal, faculty consult the AACU’s pamphlet, “Program Review and Educational Quality in the Major.” Department Chairs were issued copies of the pamphlet in 1994, but if your department no longer has its copy, contact the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, Samuel Hines.

Typical changes handled by the "Change Degree Requirements for a Major" form:

1. Addition of a course to the major;
2. Deletion of a course from the major;
3. Change in catalog description of the major;
4. Change in prerequisites for the major;
5. Change in the distribution of the requirements;

Questions to consider when planning changes to a major:

1. What was the mission of the major as it was previously conceived?

2. Do the planned changes alter that mission? If so, how do they affect the goals, objectives, and intended outcomes of the major?

3. Will the changes widen or narrow the major's larger liberal arts purposes in constructive ways?

4. Are cognate departments aware of this proposal and its possible effects on their curricula? Will courses be cross-listed, and will an overlap be avoided?

5. How do the changes affect the beginning, middle, and end of the curriculum development built into the major?

6. How will the changes affect students already enrolled in the existing major sequence? (i.e. How will you administer the changes?

7. Will the changes affect staffing resources and needs?