Athens State University (ASU) recognizes the importance of active involvement of its faculty in developing the content, maintaining quality, and evaluating the effectiveness of its curricula. The responsibility of the faculty for the curriculum is reflected in the academic governance structure of the institution. The rights and responsibilities of the faculty related to curricular matters are defined in the relevant sections of the ASU Employee Handbook: These sections of the Handbook demonstrate that: the ASU Faculty has established a standing committee charged with curricular review; faculty members have freedom in their professional activities; faculty duties include curricular development and assessment; the role of the Faculty in improvement of educational programs; the entire faculty constitutes the academic governance body of the institution; the Faculty has established a systematic process for review of curricular changes.
As a part of the Curriculum Review Process, all curriculum changes at Athens State University are subject to the multidisciplinary review of the Faculty Curriculum Committee, one of the standing committees of the ASU Faculty. The Curriculum Committee consists of 12 Faculty members who volunteer to serve on the committee. The Presiding Officer of the Faculty ensures that there is equal representation on the Committee from each of the three Colleges. The ASU Faculty has charged the Curriculum Committee with the responsibility to review the impact of curriculum changes on the institution as a whole.
In general, Curriculum Review Requests begin at the departmental level. Once approved by the Faculty in a department, the Request is forwarded to the appropriate College Dean for review and discussion at the College level. After approval at the College level, the Request is forwarded to the Curriculum Committee for review and approval by the Committee. Once a Request has moved through the steps of the Curriculum Review Process, the recommendation for approval or non-approval is forwarded from the Committee to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
As part of the Athens State academic governance structure, any measure relating to academic matters and properly passed by the Faculty shall become the policy and practice of the institution unless it cannot be performed for fiscal or other strictly administrative reasons, or concerns an issue wherein the law, including State Board policy, requires the ASU administration to set policy or practice for the institution or to follow already existing law or policy. If these exceptions do not apply, the Curriculum Review Request is approved by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Vice President will take and document the appropriate steps to implement the change.
In the case of new academic programs, an application for a new program must be submitted to the State Board of Education for action and approval at the system-level, and must also be submitted for state-level approval to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.
To ensure the effectiveness of the University’s academic programs, faculty members are directly involved with the assessment of academic programs as part of the University-wide annual assessment process. Participation in departmental program assessment plans is a regular duty of full-time faculty members. Departmental faculty members, with the appropriate expertise in a particular discipline and in coordination with department chairs, identify learning outcomes appropriate for each degree program and the assessment instruments needed to measure these outcomes. Faculty are involved with the development of assessment plans, the collection and reporting of assessment data, and use of the assessment results in developing action plans to improve the effectiveness of the curriculum, which are all steps in the annual assessment cycle required for all degree programs.
Additional information on the assessment of academic programs can be found in the narratives for Core Requirement 2.5 and Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1.1.
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