Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

About Us

At its monthly meetings, the committee reviews and evaluates proposals to add, revise, suspend or eliminate any courses and programs at the college, and considers suggestions for future curriculum development. Important problems and deficiencies in the curriculum, as well as its major goals and directions, are also discussed. Meetings are open to all faculty. Meetings will be held via Zoom, and you can use this link to attend: https://ri-college.zoom.us/j/8688089557?pwd=V3lZY3djbHJDWjVGRWdRQjNpSlBwUT09 Meeting ID: 868 808 9557; Passcode: 1UzmdiSA. Meeting dates and times are all listed below, and each meeting’s agenda is posted a week prior to the meeting and can be accessed via the link at the bottom of this page.

Announcement from Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Chair

The first meeting of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for the 2023-2024 academic year is scheduled for Friday, September 15, but if no proposals are submitted in time for this, the committee will be informed ahead of time that this meeting will be cancelled. We shall continue to convene UCC meetings for the year on Zoom. The committee will be reminded prior to each meeting, to give them time to look over any proposals or submit reports on time, and originators will be invited to speak on behalf of their proposals: Meeting dates are listed in the right-hand column below. Please use the curriculum@ric.edu email for all correspondence concerning UCC matters; it is checked every day.

Electronic copies of proposals that you wish to be considered are due by noon on the last Friday of each month prior to the month in which the proposal will be presented. These need to be submitted as Word files to curriculum@ric.edu along with a single catalog copy (that covers all the necessary changes) and an updated copy of your program’s Academic Rhode Map if it needs any revision if your proposal is approved—bear in mind that changes you are making to certain courses may affect other programs, and you need to identify these on your proposal so they will know to update their Rhode Maps. The submission date is 21 days prior to each scheduled Undergraduate Curriculum Committee meeting (see dates below). This is necessary to enable the Chair and the Executive Committee to check them through and make any necessary changes, and to allow time for minor revisions before coming to the full committee. Make sure the electronic documents you send are in Word, saved as .docx files — NO .pdfs.

Proposers can send electronic copies of their proposals (with catalog copy) to all those who need to sign, and have them either sign electronically on the Word document or send an e-mail to curriculum@ric.edu to show their approval/acknowledgement. Signatures should all be received before the Executive Committee meet to discuss the proposal (see dates below) on the first Friday of each month. 

Please check that you are using the current form (Form revised 3/1/2024) available for download from the “Forms and Information” page of this website.  All proposals use the same form, which is split into different sections. Only submit the sections that are relevant to your proposal (course creation/revisions only need sections A and G, and the relevant ones from B, C, or D); program creation/revisions only need A and G (and either E or F)--delete from the document any sections that are not being used). Double check before submitting that you have provided all the correct information, included a proper rationale for every change when making revisions, as well as how this will affect the program or students (if it does not affect either one—why are you making the proposal?), and please do not forget to provide catalog copy in a single extra file to reflect any changes you are planning to make, and includes changes that might have to be made to other department sections in the light of your proposal (e.g. If you change the credit hours of a course used by a program outside your department, you need to include catalog copy of their program that reflects this, make sure they are included on the signature page, and check to see if this will change the program total). Please edit so that you only send in those pages being changed, with clearly marked tracked changes, and not whole section (just cut and paste the pages you need from the files provided on the forms and information page into a single Word document file before you start tracking the changes). You also need to check to see if your proposal might be affecting any of the college’s Academic Rhode Maps and submit revised versions of those affected along with your proposal. Word versions of the Rhode Maps, which can be edited, are archived on the “Forms and Information” page. 

While there are guidelines embedded on the proposal form in a series of smart tips (just hold the cursor over the highlighted phrases), there are also more detailed instructions on the “Forms and Information” page, and in section 4.2 of the UCC Manual, for filling in the form, creating catalog copy, and revising Academic Rhode Maps. The names and affiliations of those whose signatures are required should be typed into the electronic file copy of the approval/acknowledgement page of each proposal before its initial submission. If a copy of your proposal with the  signatures has not been submitted prior to the Executive UCC meeting at which your proposal is to be discussed, we cannot guarantee we shall be able to discuss it, but no proposal will be forwarded to UCC without all of its signatures. Email your electronic submission to the Chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee at curriculum@ric.edu as soon as it is ready–do not feel you have to wait until the deadline or for signatures as we can be working on getting it ready in the meantime. There is also a timeline on the “Forms and Information” page to give you a sense of when you need to get proposals to the committee to enable a timely implementation.

If you have questions, please contact the chair, Sue Abbotson, ext. 2803, or email to curriculum@ric.edu. Please use this curriculum e-mail rather than Dr. Abbotson’s personal RIC account as it helps to keep the Curriculum correspondence all together in one place.​​​