General Curriculum Committee Questions About Program Proposals

When a proposed programmatic or curriculum change has implications for more than one course -- e.g., it involves several new courses, coordinated changes to existing ones, a phase-in period involving multiple courses, or a combination of such factors -- it is appropriate for the Curriculum Committee to understand, and approve in principle, the intended scope of changes before it considers requests related to individual courses. This should save all parties time and frustration down the road.

Therefore, if you are proposing such changes and want smooth sailing in the Curriculum Committee (at least, as smooth as can be expected), you should carefully consider and prepare written answers to the following questions as early as possible in the process. These answers should be submitted for informal consideration and feedback from the Curriculum Committee well before individual course requests are made.

After review of the answers to these general questions, the Curriculum Committee may ask for more specific information before considering whether to "bless" the overall change in principle. Such a blessing is not intended to be an official action of the Curriculum Committee, but a statement that the Committee believes that subsequent individual course requests are appropriate for consideration under normal procedures. There are no guarantees, of course, that individual course requests will be approved just because the Curriculum Committee has agreed that the overall program makes sense. On the other hand, in the absence of satisfactory answers to these questions at the beginning of the process, it is likely that individual course requests will face significant questions regarding their role in the bigger picture.

As a practical matter, it is also important that individual course requests -- when they do come -- should be prepared as carefully and completely as possible. If you are responsible for any individual course requests and do not understand what documentation and paperwork is required, please contact the chair of the Curriculum Committee in advance.

1. What is the nature of the proposed program?
1. What is the overall nature of the program, briefly stated?
2. What is the scope of the program in terms of expected changes to the current CSE curriculum?
3. What existing CSE programs or courses are related to the program by similarity, prerequisites, etc.?
4. What other departments will be concerned with the program, and how?
5. Is the program a tagged degree program, minor, ...?
2. What problems does the proposed program solve and/or create?
1. Why is there a need for this program?
2. What could not be accomplished if this program were not created?
3. Who is demanding the program or the product of the program?
4. Who is the intended/expected audience for the program?
5. How many students would be involved in the program?
6. How is the program related to national movements or trends?
7. How is the program related to the GRE advanced test in CS?
3. What is the proposed course structure under the program?
1. What courses already exist?
2. What courses will be changed?
3. What courses will be added?
4. What courses will be withdrawn?
5. What draft sample course descriptions (objectives, prerequisites, syllabi, texts, grading schemes, ...) are available?
6. What draft sample homework problems, lab assignments, and exam questions are available?
4. What resources are needed to implement the program?
1. What faculty are available/will be required to teach the program's courses?
2. What lab equipment, software, or other resources are available/will be required?
3. Approximately how much will new required software, hardware, or other resources cost to acquire and to maintain?
5. How will the program be implemented?
1. How will the program's curriculum be phased in?
2. What are the "fall-back" positions if the changes cannot be completed as originally planned?
6. How will "success" of partial/full implementation of the program be gauged?
1. What are the criteria to be evaluated?
2. What provisions are there to conduct the evaluation?