Graduate Curriculum Committee Charter

Graduate Curriculum Committee
Organization and Charter

Approved by GCC Vote October 7, 2009.

Charter: The purpose of the Graduate Curriculum Committee is to act as the executive body of the department in matters relating to the graduate curriculum, its degree programs and courses. The committee will proactively evaluate the graduate curriculum, implement necessary changes and minor improvements, propose significant improvements for faculty decision, and respond to faculty, administration, staff and student issues on matters within its scope. The authority and decision making ability of this committee is derived from the Chair of the department. The committee is responsible for oversight of the graduate curriculum, including approval of new course proposals, modifications to existing courses and textbook choices for all graduate courses. The committee is also responsible for proposing changes to degree program requirements and for new graduate degree and certificate programs to be approved by the faculty.

Organization: The committee will be comprised of members of the faculty and staff of the Department of Computer Science. The Chair of the Department will appoint members to the committee and assign a Chair. Committee members will solicit and gather issues for discussion from faculty, staff and students and call meetings on an “as-needed” basis. Minutes will be kept and recommendations made to the Chair of the Department in writing. All proposed curriculum changes, other than those that are truly minor, shall be published to the Computer Science Faculty for consideration, discussion, and voting at a CS faculty meeting. Minority reports may be attached to committee proposals by any member of the committee.

Member Responsibilities:

Committee Chair: The Department Chair will appoint The Chair of the Committee. The Committee chair shall call meetings, assign individuals to sub-committees, and establish procedures and guidelines for the assessment of individual topics assigned to the subcommittees.

Committee Members: Each person assigned as a member of the committee shall participate in meetings called by the Chair of the Committee. It is the responsibility of each member to make recommendations to the committee on potential curriculum modifications and to keep abreast of current computer science and university curricula. Each committee member shall have voting rights on items of debate during committee meetings. Each committee member shall be afforded an equal opportunity to discuss matters during regular committee meetings. A majority vote of all members of the committee is required on all actions recommended for adoption by the department, except that 2/3 supermajority of all members of the committee is required to modify this Organization and Charter document.

Policy Generation: In order to foster respect for the proposals generated by this committee, the following procedural guidelines will be followed:

  1. The committee will maintain a well publicized method via which members of the department may make requests and recommendations regarding curriculum changes. Specifically, a textbook change request form will be provided on the department web site. Faculty may send email to the chair of the committee with suggestions for curriculum changes. Committee meeting times and locations will be announced to the faculty and advising staff via email well in advance of such meetings and attendance is open to all.
  2. Prior to the formal submission of proposed significant changes to the Chair and faculty for consideration, the committee will publish to the faculty and advising staff, in a regular and well publicized manner, a draft proposal or proposals. The committee shall then allow a minimum of 10 working days for consideration and comment. Thereafter, a further meeting shall be held to discuss the concerns of the Computer Science community and, if possible, a final vote taken.
  3. Coincident with the submission (in writing) of formal proposals (and any minority reports) to the Chair and faculty for consideration, the formal proposal shall be published to the advising staff and student ACM representative for consideration and comment.

Other Committee Duties and Responsibilities: Apart from addressing ongoing concerns brought up by the Department Chair and faculty regarding the graduate curriculum, the committee shall also have routine responsibilities as described below:

  • Yearly Review: Each year, the committee will meet within the first 30 days of the fall term and review the current state of the graduate curriculum, with a a focus on currency of the program within the context of the ever-changing field of computer science. Discussion of any proposed curriculum changes by the committee itself and of faculty suggestions of which committee members are aware will also be brought forward at this time.