Programs, Curricula & Courses

Material following between *** reproduces verbatim a policy statement adopted by the University Senate on March 8, 2001.

*** In most cases, at present, an academic program is offered under the auspices of a single academic college through an academic department or, in some cases, under the sponsorship of a group of faculty from different departments assembled ad-hoc for the purpose. (This faculty group is called the "program faculty.)" Each academic program has a program director, who may be the Department Chair or a specifically designated faculty member. While the director and the department or program faculty are primarily responsible for the design and implementation of the academic program, the Dean and the faculty of the college concerned bear responsibility for its support and for its general oversight. Reflecting this responsibility, proposals to modify or establish an academic program require the endorsement of a college-wide faculty committee and of the dean. In addition, undergraduate degrees are awarded formally by the college as a whole, while graduate degrees are awarded by the Graduate School on the recommendation of the college's graduate faculty.

Interdisciplinary programs, spanning the purview of two or more colleges, are increasingly being developed in response to the interests of students and faculty. They should be justified on intellectual grounds and encouraged where they can be sustained at a high level of quality with available resources. Lying outside the ordinary structures described above, the oversight and support of such a program may be problematic. The following general guiding principles apply to the organization of interdisciplinary programs.

Every academic program offered at the University must be overseen by a group of faculty who have strong interest in assuring the success of students in the program and in maintaining the program's quality.
The program director of an interdisciplinary program should be a regular member of the tenured, tenure-track faculty.
There must be one or more deans who are interested in ensuring the success of the program and its quality and willing to serve as advocates for the program and oversee its management.
Deans and department chairs who will have responsibility for providing courses and faculty for the program must be supportive of the program and willing to work to assure its success.
There must be a primary college home for each student in the program that will be responsible for advising the student and through which the student will graduate.

Given these principles, as long as an interdisciplinary program has the involvement of one or more academic deans who are willing to be accountable for the program's quality, and as long as the program is supported by committed faculty who will work for its success, the program can be managed administratively by any college, or by the Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the case of an undergraduate program, or the Dean of the Graduate School for a graduate program. In the latter two cases, it will be necessary to have a committee of faculty to work with the Dean for Undergraduate Studies or the Dean of the Graduate School and appropriate academic deans to ensure the success of the program. A proposal to establish an interdisciplinary program must include information substantiating that all these requirements will be met. ***

Design of Academic Programs

Section II: Statement on Faculty Governance
and Interdisciplinary Programs

Design of Academic Programs

Section II: Statement on Faculty Governance and Interdisciplinary Programs

Section II: Statement on Faculty Governance
and Interdisciplinary Programs