University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

A. Membership
Because the university policy on academic rights and responsibilities section II.2, acknowledges the responsibility of faculty for the curriculum, the committee shall maintain a preponderance of faculty among its membership.

UUCC members must meet the following criteria:

• Full-time faculty, tenure-track or term, or advisers. University Academic Professionals may also be considered as long as teaching or advising is among their primary responsibilities.
• At least two years of service at VCU
• Faculty must have at least two years of instructional experience, preferably at the undergraduate level; advisers must have two years of experience advising undergraduates.
• Experience or interest in departmental- or school-level curriculum planning

Each school or college participating in undergraduate studies may elect or appoint up to two representatives to the UUCC. At least one representative must be a tenured, tenure-track or term faculty member elected by the faculty of the school, college or unit. The second representative may be an appointed or elected faculty member, or a University Academic Professional staff member whose primary responsibility is teaching or advising. Whether directly represented on the committee or not, all programs participating in undergraduate studies must submit curriculum matters to the committee for consideration and approval.

Elections and appointments for representatives are completed in spring semesters with service beginning the following fall semester. Committee members from the same school or college will serve staggered three-year terms.

With input from the committee, the senior vice provost for academic affairs will appoint a faculty member from the committee to serve as chair. The chair will be responsible for developing a regular schedule of meetings, providing support to committee members and circulating UUCC agendas and minutes to the deans and other appropriate administrators. The chair position will function as a tie-breaking vote during meetings, if necessary. Additionally, the chair shall be permitted to make administrative changes as long as those changes are noted in the minutes and the UUCC is informed of the action, providing consent without objection. The UUCC membership may recommend a chair elect who will serve alongside the chair to fully learn the chair's role and assist the chair. The UUCC chair may serve more than one consecutive term.

Ex-officio members of the committee serve in advisory or implementation capacity to the committee. These representatives consist of the following positions (a designee from the assigned area may substitute when necessary):

• Director of Assessment
• Library representative
• Office of Records and Registration representative
• Undergraduate Bulletin representative

In addition, one of these members or a designee of the senior vice provost for academic affairs will serve as administrative support for the UUCC chair.

B. Committee charge

Through the collaborative work of its members, the UUCC will oversee all undergraduate curricular issues, including responsibility for general education requirements (minimum 30 credit hours); review and approve new degree program proposals; review and approve proposed changes to requirements in majors and programs; review and approve proposed curriculum changes, including course additions and deletions; and review other curricular matters affecting the undergraduate curriculum as a whole, including additional sources of academic credit such as AP, IB and Cambridge test scores, and credits from approved organizations for consideration as course equivalency. All schools with undergraduate programs, through their deans, retain responsibility for curriculum development and revisions as well as ongoing management of courses and programs within their respective areas.

Specifically, the primary duty of the committee is to review all undergraduate curriculum proposals, changes and deletions plus other related actions proposed by the schools in order to ensure academic quality, curricular consistency and availability of appropriate resources, as well as to avoid curricular duplication. When appropriate, the committee will make recommendations to schools with undergraduate programs to facilitate the above-stated goals.

Committee recommended revisions approved by the Provost November 2022

Next subcommittee review of guidelines: Fall 2023