All new course proposals must be submitted using the Course Action Form. If a new course is introduced with a department prefix and is NOT to be considered for the credits in Liberal Arts required for the bachelor's degree, approval remains within the jurisdiction of the department proposing the new course.

If the new course is expected to qualify as a Liberal Arts course* and count as part of the Liberal Arts credits required by New York State, it should follow one of the following procedures:

• If the new course is expected to qualify as for the PEQ or FYS designation, the director of the Core Curriculum Committee will be alerted about your proposal.
• If the new course is expected to qualify as Liberal Studies (LST prefix) as part of the total credits in liberal arts required for the bachelor’s degree, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences will be notified about your proposal.
• If the new course will carry a prefix outside of the College of Arts and Sciences, and is being proposed to count toward the total credits in liberal arts required for the bachelor’s degree, the proposal needs to be submitted to the chair of the Curriculum Committee (see proposal requirements below). The Curriculum Committee will send a copy to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for an opinion and/or endorsement regarding approval of the course as a Liberal Arts course. The Curriculum Committee will then determine whether the course will qualify for liberal arts credits.

Following approval through one of the three routes above, the proposal will be sent to the Vice President for Academic Affairs for final review and approval.

Proposal Requirements if Submitting for Liberal Arts Credit Outside of CAS

1. Identify courses that already exist within CAS that contain similar content to this course and the department chairs of these courses.

a. Have a conversation with department chair within CAS where similar course is currently held. Note: Department chair(s) will be contacted by curriculum committee to obtain their feedback on the proposal of the course.

b. Justify why this course is needed in light of these other courses. (ie. What is the existing liberal arts course not doing that you need to happen? How is this proposed course going to be different? Why do you need this course instead of the other course?)

2. Rationale for why course should be a liberal arts course.

3. Syllabus which should include outline of course/ topics covered

a. Other additional information that would be helpful in supporting the case of the course being liberal arts (ie. readings)

4. Course Action Request Form (CARF) – dependent upon course

a. Only required if a new course or significant changes to course

*See NYSED program guidelines and criteria for defining Liberal Arts and Sciences courses.

Revised by the Curriculum Committee
April 27, 2017