Approved and adopted by UCC Vote May 2, 2014
Revised by UCC Vote April 16, 2015

Undergraduate teaching is important and all faculty members are expected to be involved in the undergraduate education mission of the department each year.

Core Course Oversight Summary

The required undergraduate curriculum is the responsibility of Chair of Curriculum Committee. Foundation courses do not belong to the individual faculty. This is to be sure our curriculum stays in line with ABET and to insure that faculty are informed about curricular changes that affect other classes.

  • The Department, not any faculty member, owns core courses. Faculty should rotate through courses and a single faculty member should not teach a required undergraduate course more than three consecutive years unless extenuating circumstances exist.
  • Faculty cannot make changes to required undergraduate course (topics covered and amount of time spent on a topic) without approval of the chair of the Curriculum Committee. This is because changing the content in one course can adversely impact downstream courses.
  • Faculty cannot change a textbook without submission of a textbook change form and approval of the Chair of the Curriculum Committee.
  • The associate chair will consult with the Curriculum Committee on all decisions regarding curriculum.

Charter

The purpose of the Curriculum Committee is to act as the executive body of the department in matters relating to the undergraduate curriculum, its degree programs and courses. The committee will proactively evaluate the undergraduate 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 undergraduate curriculum, including approval of new course proposals, modifications to existing courses and textbook choices for all required introductory undergraduate courses. The Committee is also responsible for proposing changes to degree program requirements and for new undergraduate degree and certificate programs, which must then be approved by the faculty.

Organization

The committee will be composed of members of the faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Computer Science. The Chair of the Department will appoint members to the committee and assign a Chair. The Chair of the Department, the CS Undergraduate Advisors, one undergraduate student representative selected by the Committee from those nominated by CSUAC, and the Lead Graduate Teaching Assistant will have ex officio (nonvoting) membership on this committee. Voting members of the committee will include two tenured or tenure-track faculty members,two instructors, and the Associate Chair(s) of the Department.

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 and the Executive Committee in writing. All proposed curriculum changes, other than those that are truly minor, shall be published to the Computer Science Faculty for consideration and discussion. Any member of the Committee may attach minority reports to committee proposals.

Member Responsibilities

Committee Chair

The Department Chair will appoint the Committee Chair. 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 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, including ABET requirements and CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences requirements. 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 super-majority 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.
  2. The Committee will submit a recommendation for change to the Department Chair, who will approve the change or return to the Committee with comments.

Other Committee Duties and Responsibilities

Apart from addressing ongoing concerns brought up by the Department Chair and faculty regarding the undergraduate 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 undergraduate curriculum, with 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.