2025-2026 Academic Year Deadlines and Important Information

Program changes, new program proposals, course changes, new course proposals for the upcoming academic year will need to have an effective term of Fall 2025 and must be submitted to your contact in the CNAS EMC by November 1, 2024

The campus deadlines for submission are posted on the Committee on Courses website.

General processes and faculty-staff workflow information

Course changes, new courses and deleted course request details are voted on by the initiating faculty, then submitted to the CNAS EMC for entry into the Course Request  System (CRS) accompanied by a detailed justification for action on the course(s). Reports to determine possible affected programs or courses on campus are requested by the EMC and entered into the system (this can take up to one week). These reports and all relevant details previously provided by the faculty are entered into CRS and then routed to the Registrar for approval.

• Helpful Hint: Completing the new course request or course revision request worksheet for each change will provide details that staff are required to enter into CRS, which will help expedite the submission and approval process. Once the faculty vote is obtained, please submit the form(s) in person or via e-mail to the EMC for further processing.

It is important to note that if a course request affects another major, minor, program, and/or course, then the other affiliated department faculty must also vote to approve the change and process it in CRS as well. This frequently leads to significant delays in overall course approval that is beyond our control.

Once the Courses Specialist in the Registrar's office reviews and approves the CRS submission, it is then routed via the system to the CNAS Executive Committee for discussion and voting at the next meeting. When the CNAS Executive Committee approves the course (new, change, or deletion) it is then routed forward to the Committee on Courses (COC) for further action and final approval. *A graduate course is routed first to the Graduate Council for approval before being routed to the COC. Any questions/issues regarding the submission at any of these stages may result in the course being routed back to the beginning for a faculty vote and delay the process or miss the submission deadline completely. Please see the Approval Routing on the Registrar's Office website to see the specific approval route for each type of course proposal.

It is also important to note that any courses being revised that have not been changed in a long time (~3 years or more) may be required to submit an updated syllabus along with whatever change is being requested, even if seemingly unrelated. It may be helpful and expedite the process to include one at the time of the change request.

** A course currently being revised through CRS is most often removed from inventory and will not be scheduled for the upcoming term by the Registrar until it is fully approved, so processing all course changes accurately, quickly, and with complete information is essential!

Program and degree requirement changes are processed outside of CRS and happen whenever there is a modification, addition, or deletion within the existing graduate or undergraduate program requirements.

For example: modification such as a course renumbering will cause a change in CRS (to the details of the actual course) and then separately a proposal to change the catalog entry should be submitted if the course is listed as a program requirement. A change such as a graduate program admissions prerequisite change would NOT cause a change in CRS.  It would only require a change to the graduate program requirements.  If you are ever unsure, please consult the enrollment management specialists.

Program change details are voted on by the initiating faculty, then submitted to the CNAS EMC for formatting into the two-column template that is required for Committee on Educational Policy (CEP) review. The addition/change/deletion must be accompanied by a detailed justification for action approved by the faculty and is included within the Word document which has the current catalog information in the left column and the proposed catalog information in the right column. The two-column document is then forwarded to the CNAS Undergraduate Advising Center for a brief review and then on to the CNAS Executive Committee for discussion and voting.

• Helpful Hint: Send program change request details in a clear and concise manner along with a justification to your staff contact (the CNAS EMC for undergraduate and the Student Services Advisor for graduate) via e-mail without making changes to the two-column Word document itself. It is easier for us to interpret what you need and then incorporate the changes into the document quickly on our end. For details on the information required and two-column format please consult each Committee's website.

When the CNAS Executive Committee approves an undergraduate program document it is then routed forward to the CEP for review.  If approved, it then goes to the Academic Senate for final review and approval. For more information about CEP Guidelines, please visit their website.

When the CNAS Executive Committee approves a graduate program document it is routed forward to the Graduate Council for review and then if approved, to the Academic Senate for final review and approval. For more information about Graduate Council Guidelines, please see their website.

Any questions/issues regarding the submissions at any of these stages may result in the document being returned to the beginning for a faculty vote and delay the approval process or miss the submission deadline completely.