All curricular proposals should be reviewed carefully in the department first before being forwarded to the College. Some proposals may be implemented after approval by the department and the College. Reviews of these proposals are normally completed within one semester, although new requirements cannot be applied until they are published in the College of Arts and Sciences Bulletin or its Supplement. In practice, this means a year elapses between the time of proposal and its implementation.

Other proposals will require further approval (for details, see the General Matrix for the Approval Process for New Degrees, Certificates, Centers, and Institutes). New minors, for example, go on to the Dean of the Faculties office for review by the Campus Curriculum Committee and recommendation to the Provost, with whose approval these items are then implemented. New certificates and degrees undergo that same review, then go from the Provost to the Academic Leadership Council and the Board of Trustees, and, depending on their content, to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Currently the Board of Trustees plans to review new degree proposals only in March and October of each year.

Minors
Existing Majors
New Majors/New Degree Programs
New Interdepartmental Majors
Certificate Programs

Minors
Department chairs or program directors may propose new minors or seek changes in existing minors by submitting a proposal to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. New minors must be approved by the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) before going forward to the Provost. Routine changes in existing minors are approved by the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, but extensive changes may require additional approval.

Please note the following guidelines for minors (and the form at http://www.indiana.edu/~college/faculty/uci/forms/OptionalMinor.pdf):

• A minor must consist of 15 or more credit hours in College of Arts and Sciences courses.
• Students must meet residency requirements and grade minima in minors.
• Unless the numbering structure of the department precludes it, recent proposals for minors have been expected to include 6–9 hours at the upper level (300–400 level).
• Courses taken to satisfy the English composition requirement may not be applied toward a minor requirement.

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Existing Majors
Department chairs or program directors may request changes in existing majors (degree programs) by submitting a proposal to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. Like minors, routine modifications (to incorporate new course numbers, for example) to majors are approved by the Associate Dean, but extensive changes must be approved by CUE and possibly by the Provost. New tracks within an existing major (degree program) can also be proposed to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, and will go to CUE for approval before going forward to the Provost.

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New Majors/New Degree Programs
A new major requires more extensive approval than minors or interdepartmental majors, since the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) will view each new major as a new degree program. A department faculty that has decided to propose a new degree program should notify the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office by contacting the Associate Dean for Undergraduate or Graduate Education.

For undergraduate degree programs, the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Kirkwood Hall 012 (855-1647), can act as a liaison to appropriate offices as a new degree program is developed. Information about the format required by the ICHE for "New Academic Program Proposals" is available in KH 012 and on the web at http://www.che.state.in.us/academics/program_guidelines.pdf.

Once a department's faculty has created a formal proposal, the chair or program director should send it to the Committee on Undergraduate Education of the College of Arts and Sciences, addressed to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. Favorable recommendations by that committee are presented to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. If approved by the Dean, the proposal will need to go to the Dean of the Faculties office for review by the Campus Curriculum Committee and a recommendation to the Provost, and then go on to the Academic Leadership Council, the Board of Trustees, and the ICHE. It is not unusual for two to three years to elapse from the time of proposal to that of official notice of authorization.

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New Interdepartmental Majors
Department chairs or program directors may jointly propose a new interdepartmental major within the College of Arts and Sciences by sending the necessary information (using this format) to the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE), addressed to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. Since the College already has approval from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) to offer a degree with an interdepartmental major, a new interdepartmental major can be approved by CUE, and does not need further levels of approval. Such proposals are appropriate only when each department or program involved offers a major that has ICHE approval already.

Please note the following guidelines for interdepartmental majors:
     An interdepartmental major must require a minimum of 40 credit hours.
     No interdepartmental program may require more than 62 credit hours total.
     Both departments must support the creation of the program.


Most programs divide the required course work roughly in half between the two departments, and at least 12 hours at the 300–400 level are usually required in each department.

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Certificate Programs
New certificate programs should be proposed to the Committee on Undergraduate Education, addressed to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. These programs will also need approval beyond the College. Certificate proposals for programs of 29 or fewer credit hours will receive final approval at the Board of Trustees level. Certificate programs of 30 credit hours or more require approval by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Although university guidelines list a minimum of 12 credit hours, certificate programs recently approved by the College have all required 24–28 credit hours. (See here for the approved format for new certificate proposals.)

In the College, certificates can be awarded only to students who are completing or have completed a bachelor's degree.

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