Considerations Before Submitting a New Proposal
Use of courses outside of the home unit
- Do the courses chosen outside the home unit have prerequisites? If so, are the prerequisite courses required for the proposed program. Pre-requisites can be checked in CIM Courses - link
- Are the courses outside of the unit offered in a regular rotation? Check Schedule of courses. Courses should be offered at least every other year.
- Are these courses restricted by major/minor/college or require departmental approval?If the answer to any of the previous questions is no, then these course(s) cannot be used for the proposed program.
Course use inside the home unit
Are all courses proposed and, in the catalog, going to be taught in a regular rotation?
Securing approval for course use
If the above criteria are met, then the initiator of the New Program (certificates, majors, minors, and areas of emphasis) will need to:
- Eberly Courses: compile approval email from Chair of offering units within the college, stating that the course has sufficient capacity to cover the number of seats needed for students in the new program. These approvals must be forwarded to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs who will provide a formal memo to be uploaded in CIM.
- Courses from other Colleges: plans to use courses from other academic units (department/colleges) the initiator must secure written (email) consent for the offering unit. These letters of consent, including those for Eberly courses, should be compiled and forwarded to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs of the appropriate College.
Academic definitions
Please make sure all proposed programs (degrees, programs, certificates, majors, minors, and areas of emphasis) are compliant with WVU Academic Definition. For example, undergraduate areas of emphasis comprise 12-18 credits, 9 of which must be upper-division level.
Other important considerations
Are there too many Major/AOE/Minor options diluting enrollment. Similarly, are there too many courses offered that will dilute enrollment.
Proposing a minor
Is there evidence for the need of a minor? What skills will they gain from completing the minor. Please consider the following:
- Evidence of need for the minor
- Intended population the minor will serve
- Anticipated outcomes of the minor
- Does a similar minor exist within the university?