Updates Regarding Next-Steps: Proposed Revisions to the Integrative Core Curriculum (ICC)

By Jeane Copenhaver-Johnson, September 7, 2021

Next Steps in ICC Revision Process

In an Intercom update to the campus last week, the Committee for College-wide Requirements (CCR) reported the outcomes of last spring’s Faculty Advisory Vote on the proposal to amend the Integrative Core Curriculum (ICC). They also acknowledged CCR’s own recommendation to forward the curriculum proposal to the Academic Policy Committee (APC) for the next stage of faculty curricular review.

As they share in the update, CCR reviewed the original proposal they received from the Provost’s Task Force on ICC Revision, and they proceeded as follows:

  • solicited feedback from each of the five school-based curriculum committees with additional input from SGC, the Academic Advising Center, Faculty Council, and deans’ offices,
  • analyzed the feedback received from each and shared, with the Task Force, both the original feedback as well as a summary of key points CCR identified for additional attention/clarification,
  • received a revised proposal from the Provost’s Task Force on ICC Revisions and made the amended/updated proposal accessible to the faculty for a two-week period of review,
  • collected—via a faculty advisory vote—fixed-response votes on the proposal as a whole and on each of the specific, recommended individual changes, as well as qualitative comments to allow faculty to offer greater context to their responses, and
  • reviewed the outcomes of the faculty advisory vote and conducted a CCR-level vote on their recommendation of the proposal.

CCR unanimously approved the full proposal and each of the individual recommended changes. They have submitted the curriculum proposal to APC for consideration.

We want to be sure the campus community knows what to expect regarding the next steps in the review process.

  • The APC Subcommittee on Curriculum (APC-C) will review the proposal and, consistent with how curriculum is reviewed at the APC-C level, will discuss the proposal and conduct a subcommittee vote on whether to approve the proposal and forward to the full APC Committee (APC-Full) for consideration. It is possible that the APC Subcommittee on Curriculum may recommend friendly amendments to the proposal and, if so, will dialogue with CCR regarding whether those friendly amendments are acceptable. Curriculum may be moved forward to APC-Full or back to CCR, depending on the deliberations and vote.
  • However, if substantive changes to the proposal are made as a result of the APC-C review, or if more than 20% of the language of the proposal changes, APC-C will conduct another faculty advisory vote, to ensure that the proposal that is forwarded to APC-Full substantively reflects the curriculum proposal that informed the original faculty vote and the subsequent recommendation by CCR to approve it.
  • The final step in the faculty curriculum review process is scheduled to occur at APC-Full, if the proposal is advanced to them; at that point, the full committee would consider and vote on the proposal. If the vote were to be positive, it would be forwarded to the Provost’s Office for final internal approval.

In the event the curriculum proceeds through the full approval process, deans’ offices, the Office of the Registrar, and the Office of the Provost will collaborate to ensure catalog alignment for Fall 2022.

If you have any questions about the process, please do not hesitate to reach out to your APC representatives.  If you are interested in reviewing the timeline for the process that led the Provost’s Task Force on ICC Revision to develop and submit this curricular proposal, you can learn more about the Task Force’s work in this summary timeline