Welcome to the CLAS CC&C. This committee serves the important function of examining and, if necessary, editing all but the most minor proposals for additions and changes to the CLAS curriculum. We also monitor and occasionally modify CLAS policy on broader issues such as General Education.
Resources:
Our committee website is one of our major resources. Materials on this site are frequently updated, including new versions of all forms needed for proposals, and detailed instructions for how and when to submit. Please spend some time exploring this website.
Our other major resource is our members’ collective experience with academia and our ability to work together to maintain and enrich the high standards of the college curriculum.
Responsibilities:
As your department’s representative to this committee, it is your responsibility to keep your department informed of any issues arising in our committee that may affect its members. Some members of our committee regularly send e-mail to members of their department after any meeting at which proposals from that department are approved, modified, or rejected, or when issues of general interest are presented in our meetings. This is a good practice.
In order to make our meetings efficient and productive, here are some additional recommendations:
(1) Prepare for meetings: agendas and proposals for each meeting will be posted and emailed to members a few days prior to each meeting. Please review these documents once they are available. Read the documents before the meeting to familiarize yourself with the upcoming proposals. This preparation will make our meetings more effective and shorter.
NOTE: If there are proposals from your department on the agenda, it is especially important that you, or someone from your department who is familiar with the proposals, plan to attend the meeting. If questions arise and there is no one to answer them, we will typically return the proposal to the department and ask that these questions be addressed.
(2) During meetings: As proposals come up for discussion, it is customary for the dept. representative, or someone familiar with the proposal, to introduce it by stating, very briefly, what the proposal entails. This short overview, and a quick review of the printed proposal to check that the proposal is in good order, will often provide enough information for the committee to act promptly. If questions or suggestions for modification arise, these are usually dealt with fairly speedily.
(3) After meetings: If proposals from your department were approved, they will be noted in the minutes from that meeting which are posted to this site within a week.
(4) Subcommittees: on occasion, issues will arise which are best dealt with by appointing a subcommittee of 3-5 individuals. Subcommittees can examine the issue at greater length than our regular meetings allow. Subcommittees typically present a short written report to the whole committee, with recommendations as to how we may best proceed.